Eddie Murphy is finally back in a movie that will actually make you laugh alongside Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick and a slew of other talented comedic actors. In a story inspired by current events, the timing is impeccable for this feel good movie for the 99%. It’s about a multi-millionaire investor who is supposedly a fraud and looses all of his clients money including the working staff’s pension at the luxurious apartment tower that he lives in (read: Bernie Madoff in the Trump Tower). The employees want revenge so they plot to take back all the money they lost…they know the place in and out. “We’ve been casing the place for a decade but didn’t know it.”
Tower Heist begins hilariously and you won’t be able to stop yourself from laughing as it hits you with joke after joke from each an every character. We mainly follow Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), the general manager of The Tower. He keeps everybody in line and takes perfect care of all his residents including Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), the penthouse investor who plays chess with Josh and grew up in the same area as him – they’re as close to friends as an employer/employee can be. As Josh walks to work, he usually comes across the loud-mouth small-time criminal Slide (Eddie Murphy) who can crack you up even from off screen with just his voice. It’s classic Murphy and I’m glad to have him back. Rounding out the ensemble is Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), a depressed ex-resident of The Tower who couldn’t afford to stay, Charlie (Casey Affleck), Josh’s brother-in-law and shitty co-worker, Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe) – Jamaican Precious and Enrique Dev’Reaux (Michael Peña), the new employee.
The crew casing out the tower
This is an action comedy but they seperated the two genres explicitly. It almost seemed that each part was written by two different writers. Once the action started, the comedy wore off and I noticed myself not laughing at all. The first half of the movie was really enjoyable while the second half just got lame. First, we’re introduced to the characters, learn of Arthur Shaw’s criminal activities, watch Josh come up with a plan and team and see them beginning to practice and figure out what to do – all hilarious. My favorite segment is when Slide meets the team at the mall and tries to walk away after seeing the motley crew that’s trying to steal 20 million dollars. Then he makes each of them steal $50 worth from the mall…it’s great. But shortly after that, the movie turns into a caper movie which just doesn’t cut it.
Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller getting to know each other
Obviously this is going to be a James Bond super spy type of show, but they made the robbery so predictable and stale. I had to roll my eyes while watching it and was amazed when audience members clapped when ridiculous things worked out for the gang. If you scored less than Josh on the SATs, you’re going to love it … otherwise you’re going to lose interest very quick in the laughable chain of events that occur in a so called chess match between Josh and Arthur. Even so, the movie kept a quick pace and tried to throw in a couple laughs throughout the action sequence. But you can expect ludicrous things like the security guard not watching the cameras because somebody gave him a Playboy and people getting through doors because employees left them open and didn’t notice. Oh, and this is the most sophisticated and technologically advanced security system in the world.
Alan Alda as the bad guy with Special Agent Tea Leoni
All that aside, Tower Heist is enjoyable. It was great to hear an entire theater laughing together again – it’s been a while since a truly fun comedy. Too bad that only lasted half of the movie for me but still, the first half was really really funny. Some characters who stole their scenes were Lester (Stephen Henderson) who has a teddy bear persona and a smile that can cure any ailment and Special Agent Claire Denham (Téa Leoni) whose drunk scene was the best humanizing of a federal agent ever. Michael Peña was actually my favorite with great one liners that never seemed to fail. I would recommend this movie to anyone but there were just too many obvious, predictable and general absurd things that happened towards the end. And of course Gabourey Sidibe belted out the only Patois (Jamaican) curse word that people seem to know. But if you want to see “The Man” get schooled by a group of replaceable nobodies and enjoy a little 99% vs 1% revenge, here you go. Even though you know those nobodies are well-off actors and the 1% will only get richer from you watching this movie. Oh, irony.
Tags: Alan Alda, Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Eddie Murphy, Gabourey Sidibe, Matthew Broderick, Michael Peña, Stephen Henderson, Téa Leoni, Tower Heist
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
