The Film
"It's all ball bearings nowadays."
The year was 1985. Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office, a movie ticket would only set you back $3.00 and Chevy Chase was still funny. Ah, the good old days. After Caddyshack and just before Spies Like Us, Chase donned his rented rubber gloves and gave us Irwin M. Fletcher, his funniest and most quotable character to date. (Caddyshack's Ty Webb ranks a close second.) Though hardly adored by critics, Fletch has become something of a cult classic over the years and still holds up remarkably well more than twenty years later.
Part sketch comedy and part noir mystery, Michael Ritchie's
Fletch follows its titular reporter as he investigates the growing drug trade at the local beach. In the midst of his investigation, local millionaire Alan Stanwyk makes Fletch an offer he can't refuse: murder the terminally-ill Stanwyk in exchange for $50,000 and a ticket to Rio. Smelling a rat, Fletch decides to investigate Stanwyk and it'll take every undercover disguise in his closet to get to the bottom of things. Set to a very
Beverly Hills Cop-ish score by (you guessed it) Harold Faltermeyer,
Fletch is the perfect stage for "SNL" alum Chase, and his endless parade of alter egos, to strut his stuff.
The Picture
Although Universal's Blu-ray edition boasts 1080p video, you'd be hard pressed to identify it as high definition if you didn't know it going in. Like its HD DVD predecessor, Fletch on Blu-ray looks little better than the most recent "Jane Doe Edition" DVD. Although skin tones appear natural and the increased resolution does yield a slight improvement in fine detail (particularly in facial close-ups), overall the picture looks flat and lacks any real sense of pop. Edge enhancement rears its ugly head on occasion and signs of print damage appear more often than one would like. Hopefully we'll see a full restoration of the film some day, but my advice to fans waiting for the definitive edition of Fletch: keep waiting.
The Sound
Harold Faltermeyer's 'Hey It's The 80's" score sounds perfectly fine in this new DTS-HD soundtrack, but like the video, this Blu-ray's audio is hardly anything to write home about. This dialogue-driven comedy relies heavily on its center channel and the Chase's dry sarcasm come through clearly and intelligibly, for the most part. Surround activity is all but nonexistent, but that's to be expected with a vintage comedy such as Fletch.
The Extras
Although the Fletch Blu-ray is BD Live-enabled, on-disc extras are quite limited. "Favorite Fletch Moments" is nothing more than a brief chop shop of funny lines and moments from the film. A featurette on the disguises looks at Fletch's assorted personalities but there's little here of any interest. Finally, there's a lengthy featurette filled with interviews and anecdotes about the film's production. There's just a few problems: no Chevy Chase, no Geena Davis, no George Wendt. And did I mention no Chevy Chase? How do you create a nearly 30-minute featurette, interviewing bit characters like "Gummy" and the doctor, but not get the big kahuna himself? This unfunny segment, which features everyone talking about "Chevy," yet contains no actual Chevy, plays like one major missed opportunity.
Final Thoughts
Despite mediocre video and audio quality and a trio of uninspiring extras, Fletch on Blu-ray is still the best presentation of the film to date, and it's likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. And while the technical imperfections may be frustrating, they certainly don't make Fletch any less funny. If you've somehow managed to get this far in life without seeing the film, there's no time like the present. Just remember to put it on the Underhills' tab.
Where to Buy
Product Details
- Actors: Chevy Chase, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Tim Matheson, Geena Davis, George Wendt
- Audio/Languages: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating: PG
- Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: June 2, 2009
- Run Time: 98 minutes
- List Price: $29.98
- Extras:
- Featurette: Making and Remembering Fletch
- Featurette: The Disguises
- Favorite Fletch Moments
