I have always loved Chevy Chase. Since his stint on SNL, he has been among my absolute favorite comedians. His dead-pan, smart-alec comedic style assured his stardom, early on. First hired by Lorne Michaels as a writer for SNL, it didn't take long for his face to appear on camera.

With the opening line..."Good evening. I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not," he launched his successful career.

Unlike many of his turn-coat fans, I have and love 25 of his feature films. There has never been a movie by Chevy Chase that I did not like. I even have "Couch Trip" because of a cameo by Chase in a condom ad in the background of this movie.

In my opinion, the "Fletch" movies are among his best works. I loved "Vacation," but "Fletch" and "Fletch Lives" are by far his best endeavors.

Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher is an investigative newspaper reporter who is currently working on a story about illegal drugs on a CA beach. With this future star-studded cast, take in many names you'll know and love, who were still struggling to achieve some level of fame at this time.

George Wendt, Geena Davis for starters.

In this one, Chevy runs an almost one-man-show as a roller skating rabbi, a doctor, an airplane repair technician, a beach bum/junkie, an insurance investigator named Harry S. Truman, another insurance investigator but this time a Comanche Native American named Mr. Poon, a wannabe LA Laker, and a sycophantic tennis bum. Although I know this is not the case, this character seems to have been written for Chevy's style. If you were a fan of SNL, at the time "...back when it was GOOD..." in the late '70's and early '80's, then by all means, check out this movie. It is some of Chevy's best acting.

It rates an 8.2/10 from...

the Fiend :.

As a rather incompetent reporter for the L. A. Times, Chevy Chase doesn't seem to do much reporting as opposed to trouble making and wise cracking. He's traipsing around the drug infested Venice Beach area when out of the blue he is approached buy well-dressed Tim Matheson who offers him $1,000 to kill him and a one-way ticket to Europe. Thinking that something's up with this offer, he begins to investigate and becomes involved with Matheson's neglected wife Dana Wheeler-Nicholson who has no idea that her husband is involved in such activities. Along the way, Chase utilizes various disguises and is chased all over by the police, and finds he's involved in something quite sinister.

There's a lot of funny stuff going on, but the plot is so twisted that after a while, it's like a ride through the mountains above the city and as dark as those roads are after sunset. There are lots of funny moments with Chase doing what he does best, and quite a few interesting supporting characters as well as the sight of what the beach communities accepting California look like during their dark years.

A young Geena Davis has a small role as a co-worker of Chase's, and Richard Libertini is amusing as his boss. There's also George Wendt from "Cheers" as a Venice Beach drug dealer. Not sure that this warranted a sequel, but it did well enough at the box office in spite of its weaknesses. Definitely a product of its time, up to the snappy theme sung by Stephanie Mills.

In what may have been the high point of Chevy Chase's career, he plays Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, a reporter who writes a column under the name Jane Doe. When a man hires Fletch to kill him, Fletch decides to investigate the man. As you might imagine, in the process, he gets more than he bargained for. And there's several gags throughout the movie.

Of course, since this is a Chevy Chase movie, you don't even really need to pay attention to the plot. It's overall just an excuse for the star to goof off. Maybe not as much as he did on "Saturday Night Live" or in "National Lampoon's Vacation", but he's still funny as ever. He must have had fun making this movie.