Jon Hamm revives everyone's favorite smartass investigative reporter in Confess, Fletch trailer

Almost half a century after novelist Gregory Mcdonald introduced the world to smart-aleck investigative journalist Irwin M. Fletcher, and almost four decades since Chevy Chase first portrayed the character on the big screen in the '80s classic Fletch, the character has now been revived by Jon Hamm in Confess, Fletch (out Sept. 16). And, as you can exclusively see in the trailer above, Fletch remains very much a wiseacre. "Fletch is a guy who's usually the smartest person in the room," says the film's director and co-writer Greg Mottola. "Certainly, he's a smartass."

Confess, Fletch finds the now former investigative reporter living in Europe and writing about less dangerous subjects like art and travel when he is hired to find out who stole several million dollars worth of art from a count's villa near Rome.

Robert Clark/Miramax Jon Hamm in Confess, Fletch

"Fletch comes to Boston to track down a bunch of stolen paintings, and the first day he's there, he discovers a dead body in the Airbnb he's staying in," says Mottola, whose previous directing credits include 2007's Superbad and 2009's Adventureland. "The police think he's the murderer, so he has to simultaneously find the stolen art and clear his name."

The film's cast also includes Roy Wood Jr., Marcia Gay Harden, Lorenza Izzo, Kyle MacLachlan, and Hamm's Mad Men costar John Slattery, who plays a Boston newspaper editor.

"This is essentially the same character who was Fletch's editor in the first Fletch movie, played by Richard Libertini," says Mottola. "They have a love-hate relationship."

Robert Clark/Miramax John Slattery and Jon Hamm in Confess, Fletch

It was the suggestion of Hamm, who is a producer on the film, that Mottola cast Slattery in the movie.

"I'd met John over the years, and I really, really enjoy him as an actor, so I loved the idea," says Mottola. "It was actually the first day of shooting all of their stuff, and it was a great first day because those guys have such a shorthand that they just immediately fell into a very funny, enjoyable rhythm."

One person who doesn't make an appearance in the film, even in a cameo role, is Chevy Chase.

"The reason we didn't ask Chevy Chase to be in it is not because we don't love the original movies, we do, but we thought this should be a new thing," says Mottola, whose film is based on McDonald's 1976 book Confess, Fletch but is set in the present day. "There's a lot of things Chevy did that aren't in the Fletch books: his style of comedy, the slapstick, and all the different names and disguises. We thought it wouldn't be right to steal them. We reference the original, we pay homage to it, but we tried to really balance it halfway between a detective mystery and a comedy, possibly more than the original."

Confess, Fletch costars Ayden Mayeri and Annie Mumolo. The film will be released in theaters, on digital, and on-demand Sept. 16.

Exclusively watch the trailer for Fletch, Confess above and see the film's new one-sheet poster below.

Miramax

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