Don't you wish the Occupy movement could have struck at the one percent in a better way than camping out in the park and hoping they'd be driven off by their rank body odor? Tower Heist might satiate your thirst as a lightweight revenge fantasy about a group of working class stiffs striking back against the malevolent corporate elite.
Ben Stiller heads up an all-star cast as Josh Kovacs, the building manager for a Manhattan highrise played by the Trump International Hotel and the Trump Tower. The tower is the home to a hodgepodge of wealthy citizens and Kovacs caters to their every whim. The most famous and richest is Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), an investment banker, who lives in the penthouse complete with a rooftop pool decorated by a giant hundred dollar bill and Steve McQueen's Ferrari in his living room. Shaw has more money than everyone else in the building combined, but he'll happily remind you he grew up in Queens and used to shovel horse manure at the racetracks. Shaw's genial demeanor rapidly fades when he is arrested for fraud of Bernie Madoff proportions. This includes the pension for the entire staff as well as the retirement fund for Lester (Stephen Henderson), the elderly doorman. Kovacs is pushed to the breaking point when poor Lester attempts to commit suicide. He vows to get back the money by any means necessary.
Kovacs believes Shaw has a hidden nest egg inside his apartment and gathers together a crew of misfits to plan the heist. He recruits brother-in-law & concierge Charlie (a wonderfully understated and self-deprecating Casey Affleck), dopey elevator operator Enrique (Michael Pena), and bankrupt stock broker Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick). None of them know anything about stealing, but Kovacs knows someone who does...a black guy. The final member of the team is Slide (Eddie Murphy), a larcenous neighbor who used to go to daycare with Kovacs as children. The climactic crime sees the crew sneak into Shaw's penthouse amidst the hustle and bustle of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Even if it sounds like a backhanded compliment, Tower Heist is by far the best work of director Brett Ratner. He'll never direct anything substantial, but he is a master of slick and hollow blockbusters. Tower Heist is a well made comedy that follows in the footsteps of the Ocean's franchise. In fact, the project was originally pitched by Eddie Murphy as an urban version of Ocean's Eleven, with Murphy hoping to star alongside talents like Chris Rock, Eddie Griffin, and Dave Chappelle. The screenplay was hammered down to a blue collar alternative to the ritzy Soderbergh pictures. The credited writers are Ocean's Eleven scribe Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, who previously worked with Ratner on Rush Hour 2 and 3. There were also numerous uncredited rewrites by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball), Leslie Dixon (Limitless), and Noah Baumbach (Greenberg). Despite all these writers, there are plot holes aplenty, the jokes aren't particularly witty and most of the humor skates by thanks to the easy chemistry of the cast. One of the funnier scenes features Slide initiating his cohorts by forcing them to steal merchandise at a trendy shopping mall. Ratner compliments the comedy with some dynamic action sequences with shout-outs to Die Hard and the iconic car chase from The French Connection.
Stiller makes a fine accounting of himself as the everyman taking charge of a situation and knowing how in over his head he is. Michael Pena has displayed strong comedic chops in Observe & Report and 30 Minutes or Less and he does so here as the team's resident dummy. Matthew Broderick is also funny as a pathetic sad sack, despite his character not being particularly useful. His math skills could have easily been replaced by the calculator app on an iPhone. What really brings the movie together is Alan Alda's performance as the villain. Alda plays up his nice guy image at the beginning of the film turning Shaw into the grandfather you wish you could have. Hey, he's Hawkeye Pierce, after all. Then, there's a slight shift in the tone of his voice that turns geniality into odious condescension.
Much has been made that Eddie Murphy's role in Tower Heist is a return to form. While it's certainly the most liveliest he's been in years, he's not quite the same Murphy from Beverly Hills Cop or 48 Hours. The few female members of the cast should also be praised. Gabourey Sidibe of Precious fame plays a Jamaican maid with a surprising talent for safecracking. Then, there's a smoky voiced Téa Leoni as a tough FBI agent and possible romantic interest for Kovacs.
There have been many unforgettable heist sequences in movie history from the Mini Cooper parade of the original The Italian Job to the silent jewelry store robbery from Jules Dassin's Rififi. Tower Heist won't ever be mentioned in the same breath as those films. Ratner's latest production is a generic comedy that matches its unimaginative title. Yet, it is a slickly shot picture and the imminently likeable cast generates enough goodwill to make it a fun hour and forty five minutes.
Rating: ** (*****)
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