There may be a movie here, but you won't be able to see it. This is one of those movies where the advent of HDR had the crew go, "Well, let's turn off all the lights and fire the post-production crew." In other words, it's impossible to see what's going on. Absolutely unwatchable.

"I.M. Fletcher" (John Hamm) arrives at a posh apartment procured for him by his aristocratic Italian girlfriend to discover the body of a strange young woman lying on the floor. He calls the cops and is soon the prime suspect of the laconically effective "Insp. Monroe" (Roy Wood Jr.) and his enthusiastic new sidekick "Griz" (Ayden Mayeri). It seems to "Fletch" that the only way he can prove his innocence is to use his legendary investigative journalism skills to get to the bottom of it all. Meantime, his gal at home is trying to fend off her grasping step-mother after her father is kidnapped and the ransom is a Picasso painting that is one of nine that was stolen from their home. Maybe the solution to these mysteries lies in finding the paintings? That trail introduces him to the rather germo-phobe art broker "Horan" (Kyle MacLachlan) and soon an intricate game of cat and mouse is afoot! Essentially this is all about Hamm, and for the first half hour he manages to amusingly, and quite deftly, bounce his character off the others - including the glamorous "Andi" (Lorenza Izzo); her lively nemesis "Countess Sylvia" (Marcia Gay Harden) and his rather flakey next door neighbour "Eve" (Annie Mulolo). That characterisation quickly starts to wear a bit thin, though, and the latter parts of this comedy are pretty derivative and well-travelled with a few set-piece comedy enterprises that start to look more and more like a few conjoined episodes of a television sitcom. Hamm has good timing with his delivery, and his one scene with the scatty Mumolo stands out for me, but otherwise we've seen this all before. Agatha Christie it isn't!

I really enjoyed this film. It was funny and campy and Hamm was great. It was fun and didn't take itself too seriously.

I really liked this movie. It went against my expectations right out of the gate. I don’t know if I would like the original Fletch film with ChevyChase as much as I did as a younger viewer, but I remember enough to say that it was all Fletch. Not so much here. Chevy’s Fletch dominated the story, perhaps every scene. I still remember his sarcastic Oh good, the police, when a corrupt cop showed up. This Fletch movie is more mature, with more depth. Wisecracking Fletch is still at the center of it, of course, but mostly I enjoyed the scene-stealing cops. There is the exhausted new father, “Slow Motion” Maurice, who talked like a tough cop who disbelieved Fletch and reminded him more than once that he was the main suspect, but who had the patience to wait before arresting him. Perhaps really knew someone was setting him up. And the accident-probe, clumsy Griz, who bumbled around but who ultimately proved to be the brains of the detective team. They played off each other and Fletch well, and I would gladly watch a spin-off show just with them. The plot is dense in a way, and a piece of critical information is hidden from us for most of the film, but it is all in fun so who really cares? What am I, reviewing for the New York Times or the like? No. Suffice to say that it was entertaining and I suspect I will watch it again someday.