Jon Hamm is already incredibly visible when it comes to his reputation and his ability to turn heads, but taking on the role of Fletch that was made famous by Chevy Chase decades ago feels like an odd twist in his career that could if done right, open up a new chapter in Jon’s career. Or, it could reaffirm that he’s capable of being a part of a funny movie, but not necessarily as the lead. He’s already proven his acting ability is up where it needs to be and can go further since he’s taken on more than one type of role since rising to prominence. The one role that many will cite and yes, I’ll mention, was that of Don Draper in Mad Men since this is essentially what drew a lot of people to him over the last decade. But apart from that, he’s been showing up in other areas where it’s been seen that he’s still just as great being a dramatic actor but has also been able to set foot in action sequences just enough that he’s convincing, and has even pushed into comedy, which is great. But where it feels that he still needs work is when it comes to being the lead in certain movies since as great as he is, Jon still needs a little help in some areas.
The movie Tag, which hasn’t exactly been covered in glory, is a good example since Jon took part in this touching story of a group of friends that, yes, played a game of Tag that went on for years and kept them closer together. It was a touching comedic drama that featured several notable actors along with Hamm, and while he was definitely up for the comedic portions he still excelled in a big part thanks to his costars. Seeing how Fletch is a comedy-thriller it’s fair to say that he’s going to need his costars yet again to make it work. Jon is definitely capable of comedy, drama, action, and can make it all work, but on his own, it does feel that he might not be quite as convincing. This can be said about a lot of actors, but one thing that Chevy Chase had, apart from a lot of rumors about being difficult to work with, was the fact that he IS a comedian and practiced his craft for quite a while. Hamm is definitely a worthy actor, but his comedic chops are still kind of rough around the edges. When he’s given a great cast to work with though he only gets better.
It does sound as though this upcoming movie won’t be a straight reboot of the original Fletch, but will take from the second book that was written by the author of the Fletch stories and will see the titular character as a prime suspect of several murders. That might be a bit refreshing since it won’t be taking all the same gags and trying to run them by the audience once again. Opinions about Fletch and how great or horrible it really was are pretty widespread some some folks didn’t like the movie, some didn’t and still don’t like Chevy Chase, and others loved both. One thing about Chase though, besides his familiarity with humor, is that whether people like it or not, there is a certain look that many comedians have that dramatic actors don’t always possess, and it feels like a stereotypical statement, but a lot of comedians tend to have a rather goofy look to them or something that appears off, that is not present in a lot of dramatic actors.
As I said it’s an awkward statement, but comparing Hamm to Chase it kind of holds up since without knowing who each person is, a random fan might look at Hamm and expect him to be part of a drama or action movie, while they might expect Chase to start cracking jokes. That’s one reason why Hamm will likely need a solid cast around him to make a Fletch reboot work, but it does feel that this will be able to happen since it’s been done already. In Baby Driver it was great to see Hamm switch from being an upright citizen to being a laidback criminal, so he can and does find it possible to switch from character to character.
How well the Fletch reboot works will be on the actors no doubt since the divided opinion that exists about this movie will likely make it difficult for those that are just coming around to it to decide. But since Hamm has already proven himself to so many it’s easy to think that this could be another role that will elevate him even further in the eyes of his fans. If nothing else, he’s usually a lot of fun to watch.
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