Reading Rainbow: Fletch Won by Gregory McDonald

Years ago, I read and loved Gregory McDonald's Fletch, the first book written in what was ultimately an eleven-book series of mystery novels. This was, of course, also the book that the 1985 Chevy Chase eponymous star-vehicle was adapted from. It should go without saying that I would not have read the novel if I were not a big fan of the film, but when I read the novel I was surprised to find it much darker and edgier than its filmic counterpart.

McDonald's Irwin M. Fletcher was a self-serving bastard who was holed up in a beach apartment with a sixteen-year-old who ends up overdosing. While still every bit the quick-on-his-feet smart ass Chase portrays him as, the Fletch on paper isn't running around in goofy disguises.

Of the remaining Fletch novels, the one that stuck out to me the most has had my interest piqued for more than a decade. This novel is Fletch Won, and its rights have been kicking around since Mallrats came out, when Kevin Smith bought the rights with the intention of it being a Jason Lee star-vehicle. Since Smith's involvement ended, the project fell into the hands of "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence and now sits on Steve Pink's perspective to-do list (more on him later this week). Each person who has been attached to the film has shared the same feelings: They badly wanted to make this film.

Having finally read the book, that desire is entirely understandable. As an origin story, it would allow its director and studio a chance at a new franchise. As source material, it is great.

The story begins with a young Irwin Fletcher being chided at work for his smart-ass approach to obituary and headline writing before getting re-assigned to the society pages. When the subject of his first story turns up murdered in the parking ramp outside of the newspaper, Fletch finds himself sitting on top of a murder, only the story gets re-appropriated to a lazy veteran reporter with a vicious mean streak.

As Fletch balances this story with a piece requiring him to go undercover to expose a prostitution ring and his impending nuptials, nearly everything that can go wrong does. And then some. Along the way, Fletch somehow keeps his bearing about him and manages to out-maneuver the wrathful senior reporter at every turn while dodging all of the stray bullets that cross his path. More importantly that path is completely entertaining and engaging.

McDonald knows how to craft a taut mystery novel with a healthy dose of humor and an expert level of unpredictability. Moreover, his style makes for an effortless read, and an easy, unpredictable page-turner makes for an ideal change-of-pace after reading momentum-killing dreck like Girl in Landscape.

All that being said, it is nearly impossible to read the book without this song playing on a loop somewhere in your subconscious.

Man on Film: Cop Out

Randomly having decided to take in a movie Sunday night, we went out to Cop Out with open minds.

Holy shit was it bad.

It's not like I don't get what the Cullen Brothers were trying to do when they wrote the movie. It's clear they were trying to make a buddy cop movie paying homage to the Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop franchises. What those movies (especially the first in each series) had, though, were solid screenplays. They had plots. They had laughs.

This? Pretty thin on all of that.

Really, with the exception of Seann William Scott, there wasn't anything to like. Bruce Willis seemed like he was mailing it in (and I'm a big fan of Bruce Willis) and had a shit character to start with. Tracy Morgan's schtick wore thin after about 90 seconds. The next 90 minutes were interminable. Kevin Pollack was terrible. Guillermo Diaz was horribly miscast as the Mexican gang boss. Zero gravitas.
Also, someone decided that it was a good time to give Harold Faltermeyer work again. Look, I fucking love Fletch and Beverly Hills Cop. I love their scores, too.

But there was a time and a place, and it's not 2010. It didn't work in Kuffs or Tango & Cash. Why would it work now?

But what it all really boils down to is that there are not enough laughs. It's a buddy cop comedy that's supposed to hearken back to a better time in which buddy cop movies delivered both on the action and the laughs and fails on both counts. And I could go on from here, but really, what's the point? If it fails miserably at what it's trying to do, then it's a failure, right?

I had some hope for Kevin Smith after the surprisingly enjoyable Zack and Miri Make a Porno, but that goodwill has been spent, even if he wasn't the screenwriter.

Man on Film: Kevin Smith and the Path to Redemption

There was a time that I was a big Kevin Smith fan. As a high schooler, there was not an auteur I liked more. Sure, his films weren't visually arresting--hell, they weren't even visually interesting--but they were fun and at times he could reach into his limited bag of tricks and have you caring about his characters on a deeply personal level.

But as his films became more and more insular, they started to carry less and less weight. While Dogma marked a foray into a weightier realm narratively and technically speaking (read: tackles religion and has special effects and a crane shot), it was also a departure from the aspects of his two early films little films that worked*: believable stories with the right amount of heart.

*I think it's safe to say that whatever juvenile enjoyment can be derived from Mallrats does not outweigh the fact that the film does not work. I know it's a little revisionist of me to deride the film because there was a time that I loved that movie, but it really doesn't work. While attempting to hearken back to the John Hughes teen flicks of the 1980's, it lacks the heart that they had and is saddled with a shockingly leaden performance by that London tool--the one who wasn't in "Party of Five"--and erred to the comic book-y aspects of the 80's teen sex romps that did not work then and did not work in 1995. And while I am understanding of the fact that this was a young director given his first studio film which was then meddled with in the way that studios mess with films (i.e. Jim Jacks and ill-advised casting mandates), these problems do not except the film from criticism.

Where his debut feature Clerks excelled in telling an engaging, dialogue-driven personal story, Chasing Amy showed a growth as a writer and director that gave one hope. Then he embarked upon a rather disappointing ten-plus years. Dogma pretty good but certainly nothing special, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was intermittently funny but mostly masturbatory. Both relied too heavily on the characters Jay and Silent Bob who are amusing the first time around but bring very little on the table upon repeat appearances. Of course in between the two features, Kevin Smith busted out that ill-fated "Clerks" cartoon, which wasn't given a fair shake by the network but was a trip back to the juvenile and added insult to the injury of becoming overly reliant upon Jay and Silent Bob. Then came Jersey Girl, which to this day I've never been able to finish, and this is coming from a very public supporter of one Ben Affleck, who is fucking awesome but even his presence was not enough to make me actually finish watching Smith's ode to fatherhood.

When I'd all but written him off, I happened across Clerks II. In spite of its obviously unfortunate inclusion of the characters Jay and Silent Bob, the movie struck me as not being horrible. In fact, at moments, it was very funny. Ownable? Probably not. But they show it fairly frequently on cable, and I've watched it more than once. Maybe it was the benefactor of low expectations or familiarity, but I was pleasantly surprised with the movie despite some of the absurdity that lied within.

Then came Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which finds Smith back in the territory that he explored to success in Chasing Amy. What works here, and I'll try to err away from spoiling anything, is that Kevin Smith has gone back to creating sexually complex situations for normal people.

More importantly, he's also enlisted a new cast. Frankly, Jason Lee and Ben Affleck are probably too big at this point to be doing this film, especially when factoring in their image. Seth Rogan is the current star of the raunch fest, and I mean that in the best way possible. But I don't think the change lies just in the casting. I think the simple act of working with different people and getting new perspectives from the fresh blood can't hurt in broadening a filmmaker's horizons. Enlisting the services of someone as talented a writer as Seth Rogan can't hurt in helping things be as crisp as possible.

Hopefully, Zack and Miri is the first in a series of films that redeem Kevin Smith in my eyes. I've got my fingers crossed.