"No more alcohol or sedatives in HER Life"
Inspector Gadget | On the trail of Doctor Claw | 06/22/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I saw Fletch Lives first, when I was just 9, and it really appealed to my sense of humor at the time (and my sense of humor now too, I guess). It was easily accessible for a kid, but I was originally disappointed when I first saw Fletch because it was more serious and a lot of jokes just went over my head.
As a result Fletch appeals to the adult in me while Fletch Lives appeals to the kid barely concealed inside. There's loads of great one-liners from our man Chase and even if that doesn't float your boat Harold Faltermeyer's score is just plain awesome. It's unfortunate that "Irwin F" never became as famous or iconic as "Axel F".
I've read the book, and it's as different as it is similar to the plot of the movie, except for one major difference; Fletch's cases are not connected in the book but they are in the movie. Gregory MacDonald had the final say on who they cast as Fletch and rejected Burt Reynolds (no way) and Mick Jagger (say what???) before approving Chase. Along with Clark W. Griswold he's his most famous character (Ty Webb coming in at 3rd place).
It's not aged so well though, the film is clearly very 80s, unlike the sequel which doesn't use any pop songs, But even if the pop tunes anchor this in 1985 it's still one of the best comedies of that decade and no one can call themselves a film buff without owning/watching.
The Blu Ray features a 1080p 1.85:1 picture but since much of the film has a rather drab color pallet only a few nicely-shot scenes look good. The DTS-HD MA sound really brings Faltermeyer's score to life though. Extras do not feature Chase and are in standard definition."