WARNING: Contains mild spoilers for Confess, FletchWith his new movie Confess, Fletch, Jon Hamm can finally leave behind the iconic role of Don Draper in Mad Men. Since Mad Men ended in 2015, Jon Hamm has had a number of roles in TV and movies, but none of them have had anything like the impact of Don Draper. It can often be difficult for actors to move past their most iconic roles, and often this is due to studio typecasting, and a lack of imagination from casting directors. For example, he's often called upon to play very similar roles to Don Draper, slick salesmen like Laramie Seymour Sullivan in 2018's Bad Times at the El Royale or the baseball talent scout in Disney's Million Dollar Arm from 2014.
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Confess, Fletch is a movie that recognizes how best to utilize Jon Hamm's talents since Mad Men ended. Based on the comedy mystery novels by Gregory McDonald, Hamm plays Irwin Maurice Fletcher, a former investigative reporter and amateur sleuth who gets framed for murder while tracking down some missing artworks. Confess, Fletch is the third movie to be based on McDonald's novels, following the two Chevy Chase movies from 1985 and 1989. Fletch is an ideal character for Hamm to play, drawing more on his gifts for comedy and character work while brilliantly flipping the role of Don Draper.
Like Dick Whitman's assuming of the Don Draper character, Fletch also takes on several identities over the course of his investigation. In the Chevy Chase movies, these identities were played for broad laughs, with the comic donning wigs, false noses, and even a French maid's outfit. The identities that Jon Hamm assumes as Fletch are much more pared down, often it's a case of donning a pair of spectacles or removing his lucky LA Lakers cap. However, it's in how Hamm subtly changes the tone of his voice, or his physical movements that provides both the comedy, and the change in his character. It's further proof of Jon Hamm's skills as a comedy actor, something that will allow him to move past the specter of Mad Men's Donald Draper.
Why Jon Hamm Should Be Celebrated As A Great Comic Actor
Audiences have seen Jon Hamm play on his handsome man image in comic roles before, of course, most notably as the blackly comic kidnapper and cult leader Richard Wayne Gary Wayne in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. That role was the perfect subversion of the Don Draper character, using a more comic lens to expose the damaging effects of the Mad Men protagonist's silver tongue and misogyny. He also memorably appeared in an uncredited role in Bridesmaids as Kristin Wiig's douchebag booty call, Ted. More recently, Hamm has appeared alongside Larry David in the HBO movie Clear History and in episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
However, these comic roles have mostly been scene-stealing supporting characters or straight men to the leading comedy actors. Confess, Fletch finally gives Hamm a lead role in a studio comedy, and he shines as Irwin Maurice Fletcher. In the Chevy Chase movies, Fletch was an overtly comic character who often clashed with the film noir aesthetic of the source material. As an actor known for his more dramatic role in Mad Men, Jon Hamm adds a degree of naturalism to the role of Irwin Maurice Fletcher that fits better with the generic conventions of the mystery movie. This lends the movie a dryer, more deadpan comic style that makes Fletch's quips and wisecracks archer, and funnier than Caddyshack's Chevy Chase's occasionally irritating non-sequiturs. With 11 Fletch novels, it's hoped that there will be many more screen outings for Jon Hamm in the title role.