The Fortune (1975)

The Fortune is a lovingly crafted throwback to the champagne-bubble farces of the 1920s, where style is part of the joke and every scheme feels like it’s being staged on a gleaming proscenium. Jack Nicholson and Stockard Channing play their hustlers with a delicious mix of confidence and incompetence, turning romantic skulduggery into a dance of timing, double-takes, and escalating bad ideas, all photographed with an elegance that makes the chaos look classy. The movie’s pleasures come less from surprises than from watching smart set pieces click into place, like a well-oiled con that keeps slipping on its own banana peel. It’s not for everyone—its old-fashioned pacing and deliberately theatrical vibe can feel mannered—but if you’re in the mood for a clever, stylish crime-romance comedy that commits to its bit, it’s an entertaining little gem.

The Fortune is aiming for a glossy, screwball 1920s caper where charming incompetents stumble their way through romance, crime, and greed. The problem is the jokes often land with a thud, and the story wanders so much that the momentum you want from a con-artist comedy never really shows up. Even with a talented cast and a director who knows the era’s style, the screenplay feels thin and oddly lifeless, like it’s coasting on premise instead of building real comic set pieces. If you love languid, old-fashioned farce and can enjoy performances and period flavor more than laughs-per-minute, you might get something out of it—but if you’re here for sharp pacing and consistent comedy, this will test your patience.