Fletch reboot gains heat and a writer at Warner Bros.

Chevy Chase has certainly made some funny movies over the years – CADDYSHACK, VACATION and THREE AMIGOS! among them – but for me, FLETCH was the quintessential Chevy Chase movie. Clark Griswold was very much a character and Ty from CADDYSHACK was great but he was a part of a larger comic ensemble (and right or wrong, that film may be more remembered for Bill Murray’s Carl Spackler). FLETCH was just Chevy being Chevy. He was the lead and doing what he does best; the cocky smart-ass always ready with a quick one-liner.

It’s because of that I never really agreed with the idea of a FLETCH remake (or reboot or whatever) because so much of the success of that movie was due to Chase (as he’ll happily tell you, he improvised the vast majority of his comedic lines). But Warner Bros. bought the rights to the film back in February and is looking to make good on their purchase.

They’ve hired David Mandel, former “Seinfeld,” “SNL” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” writer, to work on a new script based on Gregory McDonald’s novel. Mandel recently wrote Sacha Baron Cohen’s THE DICTATOR and previously worked on EUROTRIP (which he also co-directed).

There’s no idea yet what director this film plans to go in but really whatever plot there is won’t be as highly scrutinized as who they get to replace Chevy Chase. Joel McHale, Chase’s co-star on “Community,” seems to be a popular suggestion but he’s never led a movie before. Do you have any other suggestions?