The Fortune

In the 1920s, two men (Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson) plot to extort the father of an heiress (Stockard Channing), leading them to consider murder.

The Fortune is something of an odd film. Directed by Mike Nichols, who’d previously teamed with star Jack Nicholson for the drama Carnal Knowledge, and written by Carole Eastman, who’d written the drama Five Easy Pieces, also starring Nicholson, yet the result is a period-piece screwball comedy.

One that takes a while to get going. There isn’t much setup given to any of the characters, yet much of the humor is derived from their interactions. By the film’s second half though, when you’ve become familiar with them, the subtleties of their interactions, particularly between Nicholson and Beatty become more apparent and entertaining.

And all three leads are good. Nicholson is zany, Beatty is a great straight man, and Stockard Channing, making her first credited big screen appearance, actually manages to hold her own opposite the two big stars.

In the end, The Fortune feels very much like a Coen brothers film, with its quirky characters and black humor, and fans of their work will probably want to give it a look, but by that same token, this isn’t a widely accessible comedy, so those that tend to be put off by the Coens, will probably feel the same here.