Tower Heist is a sparkling comedy directed by Brett Ratner and starring a crowd of perfectly fitted comedians. It received quite a bad review from the reputable Roger Ebert in person, which deeply disappointed me. I figure that whatever other people said about him, he is completely lacking a sense of humor. He prized Eddie Murphy though, saying something like that on his pretty bad review of the movie:
Murphy, in his first role since 2009, is in full Eddie Murphy mode, with comic riffs and astonished double takes.
Tower Heist – Ben Stiller with Eddie Murphy
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He also had a problem with Ben Stiller who, on his not at all humble opinion, can’t be cast as the band hero, because his style apparently is going against type.
Another thing about Ebert, and it’s not good at all: if he doesn’t like a movie, and that can depend on his moods, he spoils and at the same time, soils, the whole plot in the first sentence of his “review”. I also know that you have to mention only good deeds about death people, but accept my advice, please: Don’t read Roger Ebert’s reviews before you’re going to watch a movie you don’t know about! Read mines (I’m joking, even if I’m not necessarily going with the crowd, I haven’t been as prolific as the Pulitzer Prize’s winner). I’m usually trying to not take anything of your pleasure of enjoying a movie from beginning through end.
For example, this one is an action-comedy movie which develops around Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), a building manager. He manages “The Tower” (the Trump Tower, actually), which has a penthouse owned by the character played by Alan Alda, a hedge fund manager and a Wall Street stocks player. Now, because the word “heist” is in the title, it’s logic that the action revolves around that too, a heist, I mean.
Tower Heist – (left to right) Ben Stiller, Mathew Broderick, Michael Peña, Casey Affleck, and Eddie Murphy
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Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) not only is obnoxious and absolutely unsympathetic toward working class people (calling them “working stiffs”, and “clock punchers”) but manages without scruples to use and apparently loose all Tower’s employees pension money in an investing scheme. More than that, he took the doorman life savings (over seventy thousand dollars) to “multiply” them long after knowing that “it was over” for him.
Shortly after beginning, we see Shaw trying to escape from the Tower, but Kovacs, the manager, misinterprets this into a kidnapping, and struggles to save his client. In fact FBI eventually arrests Shaw before his succeeding to run, and you have to know that Kovacs, the manager, when he found about the charges, feels responsible in front of the Tower’s crew, because he was the one who asked Shaw to “play” their pensions on the Stock Market. The main agent from FBI, is wittily played by Téa Leoni.
Entering in a conflict with Shaw and with the Tower’s policy, Kovacs looses his job along Enrique (Peña, the elevator boy) and Charlie (Casey Affleck, the receptionist). That allows him to come somehow closer to Special Agent Claire Denham (Leoni).
Tower Heist – promo poster
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Tower Heist has been released in 2011, and was written by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson. It stars (in credits order): Ben Stiller as Josh Kovaks, Eddie Murphy as Slide, the mercenary burglar, Casey Affleck as Charlie, the building concierge and Josh’s brother-in-law, Alan Alda as Arthur Shaw, the crooked Wall Street businessman, Matthew Broderick as Mr. Fitzhugh, a bankrupted former Wall Street investor, Stephen Henderson as Lester the doorman, Judd Hirsch as Mr. Simon, the building General Manager, Téa Leoni as Special Agent Claire Denham, Michael Peña as Enrique Dev’Reaux, the elevator operator, Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa, the maid, an extremely funny character, as the whole movie is as well.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, it is far from being a flop, as some critics may think.
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