The Fortune Cookie

Name: The Fortune Cookie
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: October 19, 1966
Duration: 125 min
Rating: 63
Cast: Cliff Osmond, Harry Holcombe, Jack Lemmon, Judi West, Lauren Gilbert

1966

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Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: October 19, 1966 | Approved

Starring: Cliff Osmond, Harry Holcombe, Jack Lemmon, Judi West, Lauren Gilbert, Les Tremayne, Lurene Tuttle, Marge Redmond, Ron Rich, Walter Matthau

Summary: A crooked lawyer persuades his brother-in-law to feign a serious injury.

Director: Billy Wilder

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance

Rating: Approved

Runtime: 125 min

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Critic Reviews

James Powers

The Fortune Cookie is Billy Wilder's best picture since The Apartment, his funniest since Some Like It Hot. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

On the surface it's a complete delight, with Matthau's relentlessly funny lines taking most of the honours, but underneath lies a disenchantment as bleak as The Apartment: amoral, misogynist characters (in Lemmon's case, literally spineless) racing through ever more futile efforts to outmanoeuvre each other. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Despite some minor flaws, The Fortune Cookie is a very satisfying film. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

The Fortune Cookie still plays as funny. Not as funny as “One, Two, Three,” his grandest farce, or the more celebrated “Some Like It Hot.” Matthau makes it amusing. But there’s just a sliver of hope and the tiniest hint of “bittersweet” about it, something Wilder occasionally allowed into his screenplays. Read full review

Mike Clark

Sometimes uproarious but overly sentimental. [14 July 2003, p.1D]

Empire David Parkinson

Rarely has screen satire been so bleak or so mercilessly funny. Read full review

Pauline Kael

A sour, visually ugly comedy from director Billy Wilder and his co-writer, I. A. L. Diamond, which gets worse as it goes along -- more cynical and more sanctimonious.

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AussieArmyMan

Jan 21, 2020

I truly believe this is one of his best. I love Wilder, he is my favourite director and I've seen all his films, very few of which disappoint. Although this is towards the end of his career, I think it highlights everything to love about a Wilder film, funny, witty and infinitelyI truly believe this is one of his best. I love Wilder, he is my favourite director and I've seen all his films, very few of which disappoint. Although this is towards the end of his career, I think it highlights everything to love about a Wilder film, funny, witty and infinitely entertaining. It might not quite have the emotion of The Apartment or the edge of Double Indemnity, but as a piece of entertainment it does not fail and certainly his most underrated films. In fact one of the most underrated of all time. Would love to see this film praised alongside the classics.… Expand

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