Acting Up: Lorenza Izzo
The Snapshot:
Lorenza Izzo plays an Italian woman whose family’s art collection is stolen in the refreshingly entertaining reboot of a classic 1980s film franchise, Confess, Fletch.
(The film premiered theatrically September 16th and is also available on various VOD platforms.)
The Performance:
I have to confess: When I first heard they were finally making the next Fletch movie with Jon Hamm (who played Don Draper in Mad Men so well for so long), my first thought was…
Really?
This is hallowed ground in the comedy world and resurrecting Irwin M. Fletcher without Chevy Chase seemed… wrong. Upon its release in 1985, Fletch became an instant classic and one of my most eternally quotable films of all-time. I spent a good part of college getting called Dr. Rosenrosen and to this day, still possess a Lakers shirt that reads “Fletch” on the front, “Underhill” on the back. That should eliminate any gray area – or should I say, charcoal?
I’m here to say: It was I who was wrong.
Confess, Fletch is worthy of a Fletch fan’s time. It may not check all the boxes to appease fans of the original, but it’s well written, encapsulates the quirkiness of the smart*ss character and does nothing to disparage the original. Though part of me would still like to see what the Ryan Reynolds version would’ve looked like, there’s great solace in the fact they didn’t screw this up.
But Hamm’s not the only one in the film. There’s a slew of new characters who ham it up for some solid Whodunit hijinks. One of them is Angela (Izzo), a fiery Italian woman whose family hires Fletch in Italy after an art heist before almost instantly falling into bed with him. This makes for some fun pillow talk as Fletch tries to speak to her in Italian, which Angela finds cute if not horribly inaccurate. When her dad disappears, she sends Fletch (“a former investigative reporter of some repute”) to Boston to investigate before a murder takes place and the story takes on a familiar path as when one Alan Stanwyck hired Fletch 1.0 to kill him back in the day.
Watching Fletch work on solving the crime bit by bit, with the help (or not) of two local police officers is a fun watch. These include the more than serviceable Ayden Mayeri as Griz and Roy Wood Jr. as Detective Monroe, but then there’s Izzo who probably doesn’t get as much screen time as you want but shines while she’s on it, bouncing off Fletch’s whimsical ways and parade of one-liners. And though Fletch doesn’t quite borrow her towel due to his car hitting a water buffalo, Izzo proves to be an excellent co-star companion to keep Fletch’s attention – and ours.
The Career:
For many, this will be the first time they see Izzo in a leading role. But if you’ve been watching Hacks, the beloved HBO Max comedy series, you might recognize the 33-year-old Chilean model/actress as the woman who plays Ava’s (Hannah Einbinder) ex-girlfriend. Not a huge role, but a memorable one and notable given Izzo (the ex-wife of actor/director Eli Roth) identifies as a member of the pansexual community. News she officially broke on Emily Hampshire’s show.
Izzo was born in Santiago, Chile, but quickly learned to ditch the accent early on when she moved to the States at age 12, after reportedly getting harassed because of her thick accent. She would go on to become a model early on and eventually made the move to New York, where she would begin studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
Eventually, she started landing roles in noteworthy film projects. A couple include Aftershock (2012) and The Green Inferno (2013), the latter of which was directed by Roth. Other standout parts include Knock, Knock (2015), a horror film about a married man (Keanu Reeves) who opens his door to two devilish women, Izzo and Ana de Armas, who do their very best to ruin his life. Then there was Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), where Izzo played Francesca Capucci, the Italian starlet and wife of Rick Dalton (Leo DiCaprio) who gets to be part of the great rewriting of one of Hollywood’s most shocking events: the Sharon Tate/Manson murders.
Izzo also starred in series such as Hulu’s Casual (2018) and Showtime’s Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020).
With Izzo dusting off her thick accent once again (albeit an Italian one) for Confess, Fletch, the young talent is sure to gain extra shine at a time when people (like me) feel compelled to see what Irwin M. Fletcher is up to. Gratefully for us all, she, Hamm and the film do not disappoint.
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Gregg Rosenzweig has been a writer, creative director and managing editor for various entertainment clients, ad agencies and digital media companies over the past 20 years. He is also a partner in the talent management/production company, The Rosenzweig Group.
