TOWER HEIST (PG-13 ) Cast includes Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Michael Pena, Alan Alda, Tea Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe and Judd Hirsch. Oh, the irony.īy the way, “Tower Heist” contains a semi-downer ending that screams for a sequel. The adjective “gifted” will seldom appear before his name. But while “Ocean’s” was directed by the gifted Steven Soderbergh, “Tower Heist” is directed by Ratner. Note that Griffin’s writing credits include the remake of “Ocean’s Eleven.” Like that film, “Tower Heist” has a wonderful ensemble. Who doesn’t like to watching greedy connivers get their comeuppance? “Tower Heist,” as inept as it is, should clean up at the box office.People who are struggling financially and fed up with fat cats getting rich at their expense will likely enjoy seeing a Robin Hood update. Her scene with Josh in a bar, however, supplies one of the film’s few bright spots, proving once again what a talented comedian Leoni is. The film attempts to work in some romance involving Josh and FBI agent Denham (Leoni), but this goes nowhere. A car chase takes place during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Tower’s general manager (Hirsch) gets locked in a closet. Again, the comedy only works occasionally. “Tower Heist” follows our bad-news burglars on their high-stakes mission, which, incredibly, doesn’t go as planned. Most of the chuckles come courtesy of Murphy, who basically reprises his role of Reggie Hammond in “48 Hours.” He’s funny, but if you’ve seen “48 Hrs.” you’ve seen him funnier. This rag-tag team of thieves does provide its share of laughs thanks to, yet again, a fish-out-of-water premise.
MOVIE STILLER AND EDDIE MURRY HOW TO
Odessa, conveniently enough, knows how to crack open safes. Fitzhugh (Broderick) and Slide (Murphy), a career criminal. To pull off the crime, he enlists the help of his brother-in-law Charlie (Affleck) Tower employees Enrique (Pena) and Odessa (Sidibe) a down-on-his luck former Wall Street whiz, Mr. When Shaw is arrested by the FBI for fraud and all the employees lose their money, Josh decides to rob the sleazy billionaire to get it back. Josh also took it upon himself to invest all of the employees’ pensions with Shaw. Josh also acts as a toady of sorts for Shaw, making sure his life runs smoothly. “Tower Heist” opens with Shaw swimming in a pool, complete with the design of a huge $100 bill, on the rooftop of his penthouse suite in the Tower, a luxury New York condo complex where Josh Kovacs (Stiller) works as the building manager. While loss of fortune and jail time are all well and good, I’m betting Madoff’s victims wouldn’t have minded seeing him boil in oil for a few hours. We want him to pay the price for his despicable actions, but he doesn’t really suffer the way he should suffer. Alda gets to play the Madoff character, Arthur Shaw, and he does it with the prerequisite unctuousness. “Tower Heist” does have topicality in its favor thanks to Ponzi scheme dirtbag Bernie Madoff. Well, the latter could be played for laughs, as it was in the infinitely superior “Trading Places.” May I suggest renting that film instead of seeing this dud? How humorous is a film in which a character tries to commit suicide? How humorous is a film in which a character loses his job, his apartment, his wife and his children? How humorous is a film in which a character goes to jail? How humorous is a film in which working stiffs lose all their money to a crooked Wall Street billionaire? For the record, Nathanson wrote two of the three “Rush Hour” films. Case in point: a scene that’s used in the trailer where the characters crack wise about lesbians. Almost.Īs for the script, two screenwriters, Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, take credit, or blame, for “Tower Heist.” You’ll find more humor in a eulogy than in this screenplay. Yet “Tower Heist” is so comically flat that it almost made me yearn for the comedic stylings of Chris Tucker. Here, the director is Brett Ratner, whose claim to fame rests with the “Rush Hour” films where the alleged humor comes from fish-out-of-water premises. How can a film with a cast this good be so bad? All you have to do is round up the usual suspects: the director and the screenwriter. Its victims include Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Michael Pena, Alan Alda, Tea Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe and Judd Hirsch. The film commits its most heinous offense by wasting a talented cast.
MOVIE STILLER AND EDDIE MURRY MOVIE
Segue to the arrest and the trial where the jury will find the movie guilty by reason of inanity. It’s called ‘‘‘Tower Heist,’ a film so unfunny that moviegoers will feel like they’ve been robbed of their time and money.”Ĭue sirens. “Hello, officer, I’d like to report a crime against humanity.
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