Fletch is back. He used to be played by someone else. But those days are over.

Enter Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” fame who’s taken a circuitous route to post-series stardom. When I met him with his then girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt, right after “Mad Men” started, I thought he’d be a movie star overnight. “Mad Men” was taking off, and Hamm looked in person like Clark Kent. That was a long time ago but I’m glad I was right.

As amateur sleuth and investigative reporter in this Greg Mottola directed comedy, Hamm comes off like James Garner in “The Rockford Files.” That’s high praise. He’s cool and funny, armed with wisecracks and always ingratiating. He looks rumpled and put together at the same time. No one could have predicted Don Draper would one day go from mysterious to goofy. But Hamm and Mottola could actually turn “Fletch” into a series of movies for theaters and streaming and roll in the dough.

As it is, “Confess, Fletch” hits 500 plus theaters tomorrow and it’s on video on demand. It comes from Miramax and Paramount and I don’t think either of them knew they had a hit or what to do with it. Surprise! “CF” wasn’t even screened really. I had to ask for a review link. Clearly no one thought much of it.

But they were wrong, as evidenced by a very healthy 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Fletch is in Italy with a beautiful girlfriend (beautiful Lorenza Izzo, an Ana de Armas lookalike) whose father, a Count (Robert Picardo) has been kidnapped. The kidnappers don’t want money, but they do want a long lost Picasso he owns (but can’t find). Fletch thinks the painting is being sold in Boston, so he goes there to retrieve it. There he finds a sketchy art dealer (Kyle Maclachian) and has a “Mad Men” reunion with John Slattery, playing a newspaper editor. Then the Count’s wife shows up in the form of a sexy, witty Marcia Gay Harden who’s got a pretty good Italian accent.

Who did I leave out? Roy Wood Jr. and Ayden Mayeri as a couple of endearing, bumbling cops and Annie Mumolo as a goofy pot head neighbor.

The whole thing was shot in Boston’s Back Bay, my college stomping grounds, which adds a lot of flavor. The screenplay by Mottola and Zev Borow is lively and fun, very glib with just enough “Deadpool” like ad-libs to give Hamm room to fool around. (Harden gets in a few zings, too.)

I know you can find “Confess Fletch” on Amazon Prime, and soon I think it will be on Showtime and/or Paramount Plus. But go see it in a theater. It’s 90 minutes of high quality entertainment without super heroes, explosions (there are fireworks), or any kind metaverse. If you’re an adult, you’ll really like it.

“Blonde” had its Hollywood premiere last night at the TCL theater. Writer/Director Andrew Dominik addressed the packed crowd.

“We’ve been chasing Marilyn’s ghost around Los Angeles. We got close to Marilyn. We shot in the actual apartment she lived in with her mother, we shot in the house she died in. Might be a strange thing to do in a film that is admittedly fictional but to me it’s all fiction. It’s very difficult to step outside of our fears and desires and sink into their own violation. All of us are telling ourselves the story of what’s happening, I’m doing in right now at this very moment, That is perhaps the real subject of this movie.”

Dominik then went on to thank “Netflix for supporting our vision. I want to thank Jeremy and Brad [meaning Pitt, their Plan B productions produced the film.]” He also paid homage to the author, Joyce Carol Oates; her book “Blonde” is which the film is based on. Oates was not there but Dominick remarked ” I spent years inside her head.” He ended with “I hope I make a believer out of you.”

Ana de Armas, who is sensational as Marilyn then told the crowd, that “this screening feels so special. We did the film three years ago. Finally you guys going to see it. This is why it is so beautiful to be here, where Marilyn had been so many times. Hopefully you’ll get to know Norma Jean even more, that you’ll love and respect her even more.”

I spoke with Ana at the after party at Musso & Frank Grill and she told me she but her total trust in Dominick. “I put myself in his hands. It was difficult. I did all the research I could, and tried my absolute best.” Dominick told me that it is indeed a horror film about Marilyn. “It had to be. She was in unbearable fucking pain all her life.” Adrien Brody, who plays Arthur Miller, was there with significant other Georgina Chapman. Bobby Cannavale is a stand out as Joe DiMaggio, he wasn’t able to attend.

The film is NC-17, with nudity and a couple of jaw dropping scenes. De Armas gives a truly brave, powerhouse performance. Dominik’s vision puts together the most known parts of her life in a collage that’s trippy combined with despair. At two hours and 45 minutes, “Blonde” is most definitely ambitious, Dominick goes all in. The photography and production design are tremendous and artful. It’s uncomfortable to watch, but engaging and mesmerizing at the same time. Sure to be divisive, but definitely worth seeing.