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Director Michael Ritchie and Chevy Chase team up once again for FLETCH LIVES, with Chase reprising the role of Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, newspaper journalist and master of disguise. When his recently deceased aunt bequeaths her decrepit manor to him, Fletch travels down south to rural Louisiana. Initially, things go well, especially when he hooks up with a flirtatious southern belle. But when he wakes up the morning after, he's shocked to find that she has been murdered. In order to catch the killers and clear himself, the intrepid, chameleon-like Fletch must infiltrate the congregation of Jimmy Lee Farnsworth (R. Lee Ermey), a greedy local preacher who wants to gain control of Fletch's land in order to build a Bible-themed amusement park. Written by Leon Capetanos, FLETCH LIVES crackles with the same blend of rapid-fire dialogue and visual jokes as the original, making it a solid sequel that works on its own terms. By thrusting the big city character into a shady small Southern community, Chase is given an entirely new field on which to play. It's this contrast--especially between himself and R. Lee Ermey--that provides the film with its loudest laughs.
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