![]() Things didn’t initially pan out, Murphy left, and the project wound up in Ratner’s hands. I point this out because the film could have been even more fun if it was taken a bit less seriously or better handled if Ratner’s abilities as a director could have paid off at achieving something greater than simply taking a by-the-numbers story and hoping a funny cast on top would pay off.Īddressing some of what has lead up to this film, which I feel like I have been following for quite some time, Eddie Murphy was originally developing this film as a “Black Ocean’s 11”, where he would have cast a host of the most popular black comedians around. ![]() It is not that this is a bad thing, but besides how it utilizes these characters (which I’ll get to), the elaborate plotting of this film’s heist has way too many holes to be taken seriously. There are some neat sequences upon getting to the actual heist, but the film exists more as a way to put funny people together into some fun scenes. ![]() In Tower Heist those elements are present but are not really handled in a particularly clever way. It must come down to the idea that you always want to root for the group of characters to get away with an elaborate scheme, and the constant obstacles and twists that get in the way make things more exciting. I believe I mentioned something about this when last year’s The Town arrived in theaters, but there is almost a natural appeal to heist movies that make them easily embraced by audiences. While the employees posing as criminals are certainly amateurs at this sort of thing, they would all like to hopefully get justice on the man who stole from them. Fitzugh, a bankrupt Wall Street investor willing to participate in the robbery Michael Pena as Enrique, one of the buildings newest employees Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa, a Jamaican maid and expert safe cracker and Tea Leoni as an FBI Agent, keeping a close watch on Shaw. Various other characters (standards of the heist film genre) are all accounted for, including Eddie Murphy as Slide, a crook who Josh turns to for help Casey Affleck as Charlie, Josh’s brother-in-law and the building concierge Matthew Broderick as Mr. Not sitting well with Josh at all and eventually leading to his termination as an employee of the tower, he decides to hatch a plan to rob Shaw’s penthouse of all of the money he has possibly hidden there. As it turns out, Shaw is in fact a Wall Street crook, who has stolen $2 billion, as well as embezzled the pension funds of all of the employees of the tower. He has a sense of loyalty about his character, which puts him in the good graces of the building’s richest tenant, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), who lives in the penthouse. The film stars Ben Stiller as Josh Kovacs, the manager of a Manhattan high-rise. Tower Heist is problematic in the way it attempts to take a very goofy comedy and add more significance and emotion to its story than it should have, but it still functions as a tolerable crowd pleaser.Īrthur Shaw : You people are working stiffs, clock-punchers. Brett Ratner, a director better known for his reputation as a hack director responsible for some entertaining successes ( Rush Hour 1 & 2, Red Dragon) and some other not so entertaining ones ( Rush Hour 3, X-Men: The Last Stand), found his way to bringing his workman-like skills to a pretty forgettable, but enjoyable film. This is a simple heist comedy that is fairly entertaining, even as it slightly underuses the talents of its ensemble cast. ![]() The title of this film, as bland as it is, certainly cuts to the chase. ![]()
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