Hollywood is a business. There is no denying this fact, especially when watching movies like Tower Heist. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The business side of Hollywood keeps directors in check because they are forced to think about what audiences want and can only occasionally wallow in their own pretentiousness. Artsy directors can continue being artsy so long as they don't go over budget and lose too much money. As Catherine Keener says in What Just Happened, producers lose money all the time, but they make decisions so they lose a little less money.
Brett Ratner is a producer's dream. His movies pull in big-name stars. He throws in enough edge for the adults but still manages to snag a PG-13 rating, so they are the perfect movies for families with older kids. Is Tower Heist entertaining? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but only to a certain extent. While I was watching Tower Heist, there were many moments when I would laugh or get caught up in it, but for each of those moments, there were five more moments that were so contrived that I couldn't get entirely behind it.
At the start of Tower Heist, life is pretty good for Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller). He is the building manager of The Tower, an upper class building next to Central Park in New York City. For Josh, the tenants are like family, and he knows the building and its insane schedules like the back of his hand. He even has a running chess game with Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), a big-time investor who owns the penthouse at The Tower. Everything changes, though, when Shaw is arrested for investment fraud, and the staff of The Tower discover that Shaw had control over their pensions which have all disappeared. After a confrontation with Shaw, Josh loses his job along with his co-workers Enrique (Michael Pena) and Charlie (Casey Affleck). In an act of desperation and revenge, Josh decides to rob Arthur Shaw, and he gets the help of the neighborhood crook Slide (Eddie Murphy), a former tenant of The Tower Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), and Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe), a maid at The Tower with a knack for cracking safes.
Ratner directs the movie very much by-the-book. The scene where Stiller, Murphy, and Broderick are all dangling from the outside of The Tower is impressive, but otherwise, nothing stood out about the direction of the film other than it was competent. Ratner does, however, lay a solid-enough foundation for his impressive cast to put in some great performances. Stiller's transformation of Josh from naivety to anger against Shaw, who he thought viewed him as a friend and respected equal, is relatable and understandable in a post-Madoff America. Alan Alda took advantage of my love for MASH and made me like Shaw before I really hated him. When they first introduced Shaw, I thought, “Oh cool, this guy swims in a rooftop pool and has his own island!” By the end of the movie, I was muttering angrily, “Oh great, this guy swims in a rooftop pool and has his own island...”
Broderick was perfectly cast as Mr. Fitzhugh, a sad-sack former Wall Street analyst. Everyone is talking about Murphy's performance, but Broderick gets some of the movie's best lines. In one scene, Josh stops by Mr. Fitzhugh's apartment to convince him to leave before the bank evicts him from the apartment. Mr. Fitzhugh confesses that he sold everything he owned hoping to keep his apartment at The Tower. He tells his kids that they are camping in the apartment, and he quips that he's lucky his kids are dumb. Later when Josh finds him at a hotel, he deadpans that he's thinking of becoming a male prostitute. Even though there wasn't a really good reason for Mr. Fitzhugh to be part of the heist, I liked having Broderick around, though I think his performance will get overshadowed by Stiller, Alda, and Murphy.
Speaking of Eddie Murphy, he is very funny as Slide, and it is Murphy's best performance since Dreamgirls. He got some hilarious one-liners, wasn't too loud or obnoxious, and didn't overstay his welcome. For me, though, it is Casey Affleck who steals the movie. He plays Charlie as simply a good guy trying to do the best he can for himself and his very pregnant wife. The ladies want to marry him, and the guys want to be him or be his best friend. I hope if anything comes out of this movie, maybe more casting directors will realize how talented Casey Affleck is.
I am sure that Tower Heist will take first place at the box office this weekend and perhaps stay in first until The Muppets knock it out. All these great performances add up to a fun night out at the movies, and positive early word of mouth will also help. Ratner will once again make the business side of Hollywood happy. Even so, there are plot holes that will become more apparent on multiple viewings, and by this time next year, most of the people who saw Tower Heist probably won't remember much about it. In the long run, Tower Heist won't go down as a classic heist movie but rather as a Saturday afternoon movie. I will turn on TBS and see that Tower Heist has just started, and I'll watch it and get a few laughs. Tower Heist isn't the second coming of Eddie Murphy and isn't the best comedy of 2011, but it is an entertaining night at the movies.
"Tower Heist" opens November 4, 2011 and is rated PG13. Comedy. Directed by Brett Ratner. Written by Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson. Starring Alan Alda, Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Eddie Murphy, Gabourey Sidibe, Matthew Broderick, Michael Pena, Tea Leoni.
