A whirlwind of antics, robberies, and cracking jokes all mashed up in the typical Ben Stiller style add up to make the new action-comedy “Tower Heist,” released on Nov. 4.
The movie follows Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), manager of a swanky condominium high rise in New York City, as he deals with a crisis that has affected his entire staff. The billionare investor of The Tower has embezzled millions of dollars, a small portion being the life savings of all the staff members. Along with characters played by Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, and Michael Peña, Josh Kovacs teams ups with newly-bailed-out-of-jail Slide (Eddie Murphy) to rob the billionaire’s fully-loaded penthouse to get their just desserts. These acts, mishaps, and somewhat-false assumptions lead to a pretty interesting twist in the end.
Honestly, I was rather excited to see this movie, considering the big names plastered all over the posters I have seen lately, and it seemed like a fairly original plot line. After all, the director, Brett Ratner, worked on movies such as the “Rush Hour” series and “Horrible Bosses.” However, while I still enjoyed the experience, the flick left something to be desired, and for the life of me, I cannot seem to put my finger on it.
“Tower Heist” is one of few movies where “delightful” and “crappy” could exist in the same sentence without defaming it completely. It was not a bad movie, but like most of the PG-13 action comedies that try to win back affection of a bored audience, it was just OK—no more, no less.
With that comment being said, the writing and dialogue in this movie is genius. The humor it possessed carried the audience the whole time—including me. Not many films nowadays have that ability, and for that fact, I gave it a thumbs up.
Unfortunately, I was slightly disappointed with Ben Stiller’s choice in taking this role, knowing his amazing potential. Even his fake New York accent cracked a few times and had no one convinced that his character grew up in the same ‘hood as Eddie Murphy’s. While it was a typical Stiller character (lately), I am dying to see more from him that I have not seen in a while. What happened to the days of Greg Focker and Derek Zoolander—the glory of the Stiller era?
This flick also seemed to bring back some faces that have not graced—and I use the word lightly—the silver screen in a while. It was nice to actually see that Matthew Broderick is still alive and not totally eclipsed by his wife and bread-winner, Sarah Jessica Parker.
In conclusion, I will have to give this movie a three out of five chips. While it was certainly pleasant to see some old friends back in business like Eddie Murphy and Matthew Broderick, I hated to see Ben Stiller churn out yet another less-than-his-best flick. However, I would recommend “Tower Heist” to anyone who is up for an experience with plenty of laughs and a case of foul play you will not soon forget.
