Tower Heist

It's a good thing that Tower Heist is a comic action movie, because if it had attempted to be straight up action, the heist at the center of it all would have been completely implausible and idiotic. It still is, but since the movie is a comedy, and stars the likes of Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, we can suspend our disbelief. This is a fast-paced, check your brain at the door kind of movie that kind of works on that most basic level. It's not much more than that, though I don't think it wants to be.

Despite both Stiller and Murphy sharing top billing above the title, this is really Stiller's movie, with Murphy giving a lively supporting performance when he shows up now and then. Stiller plays Josh Kovacs, the building manager of the upscale Tower apartment complex in Manhattan. Any resemblance between this movie's Tower building, and the real life Trump Tower in New York is entirely intentional, I'm sure. The residents of the tower are wealthy people who rely on people like Josh for everything from opening the doors for them, to walking their dogs. Chief amongst these residents is billionaire Wall Street tycoon, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), who resides in the building's penthouse. He's a Bernie Madoff-inspired figure being investigated for securities fraud. As it turns out, Shaw had agreed to handle the pension funds of the entire working staff of the Tower, so now with the financial scandal unfolding, Josh and his fellow workers realize they're broke, and Arthur has tucked away their life savings.

While Arthur is locked away in his penthouse under house arrest, with FBI agent Claire Denham (Tea Leoni) trying to put the pieces of the crime together, Josh decides that it's time for a little payback. He figures that the money Arthur is hiding might be stashed away in a secret safe within the walls of the penthouse. Wanting to reclaim what Arthur has stolen from him and his fellow employees, Josh devises a plan to sneak in and steal the money. After all, who knows the patterns, and the way the building's security systems work better than them? He gathers up a small crew to assist him in the heist including the building's concierge, Charlie (Casey Affleck), rookie elevator operator Enrique (Michael Pena), Odessa the maid (Gabourey Sidibe), a former resident of the Tower who is now down on his luck named Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), and a small time neighborhood thief named Slide (Eddie Murphy), who will train them in the art of breaking and entering.

Despite the obvious parallels to today's economic headlines, Tower Heist doesn't really dig deep into its own plot or issues, nor does it want to. Director Brett Ratner (the Rush Hour films) is in his comfort zone here, giving us a sleek, well-made, and goofy action comedy that goes in one ear and out the other. The movie works on an escapist level, with some sly one liners delivered by its talented cast, a lot of big over the top set pieces (which involve everything from the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, to a priceless Ferrari being dangled by a giant crane outside of a building), and a general sense that everyone up on the screen is having a blast, and they want the audience to join the fun. That's where this movie works. It's energetic, its fast, and it barely slows down long enough for us to think too much about the numerous plot holes, or the general implausibility of the heist plan that Josh and his friends dream up.

So, the movie itself is fairly flimsy, and the caper that drives the plot is ridiculous. It's a good thing Ratner's gathered a cast that knows how to sell this material. Stiller delivers probably one of his better performances in a while, getting to mix in some genuine emotion and feeling with his one-liners. He also has some very funny moments with Eddie Murphy. Speaking of Murphy, he gets to show a bit of his old edge here, after years of playing kindly dads, talking donkeys, and hiding behind fat suits and make up. The movie's PG-13 rating seems to be holding him back a little, but it's still nice to see his comic edge return. Other notable performances are delivered by Tea Leoni (who gets a very funny bar scene), Gabourey Sidibe (in her first major role since her breakout in 2009's Precious), and Alan Alda, who makes for a wonderfully silver-tongued villain.

If Tower Heist never comes across as being truly memorable, it's not for a lack of trying. Like I said, this is a fun movie, and I'm sure it will end up being a crowd pleaser. But there are issues, like the way there seems to be scenes missing from the film. Certain details of the plot could have been explained better, and it feels like there's some information that got left out. A lot of this has to do with the planning of the heist itself, which the movie just seems to breeze over. Certain elements of the preparation should have been cleared up, especially considering how the heroes threw together a phony court date for Arthur Shaw to ensure he'd be out of the building at the time of the break in. Sometimes it doesn't pay to think during a movie, I guess.

Regardless, something tells me thinking is the last thing this movie wants out of its audience. I admire and understand that. Escapism is a vital part of the movie experience, after all. But this is not great escapism, it's serviceable. When it was over, I admitted to myself that I had fun watching it, but I probably wouldn't remember much about it not long after it ended. It's been 4 and a half hours since my screening got out as I am writing this sentence, and it looks like I was right.

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