Chevy Chase: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
4. Irwin Fletch Fletcher Fletch (1985)
Conversely one of Chase's early leading roles still has a cult following, to the point where attempts to start a new franchise based on Gregory Mcdonald's novels are destined for failure, so in thrall as they are to the original. A prequel has been in the works for decades, with everyone from Ben Affleck to Zach Braff starring. None of them would have a patch on Chevy Chase, though. His smarmy, hate-to-love-him charm was absolutely perfect for the character: an investigative newspaper reporter who goes undercover to get his stories and, mistaken for an actual junkie whilst putting together an article on drug addiction in LA, is sucked into some nasty criminal business. Despite the thriller plot the film is mostly an out-and-out comedy, and despite the standard structure it's mainly a platform for Chase to show off his performance skills. And credit to him, he actually brings it, ably playing multiple different characters (which are all being played by a different character) and still providing a convincing leading man role amongst all the chaos.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
