Director Brett Ratner doesn’t really do movies that are complex or that will cause you to use your brain. However, he is able to have fun with the movies he makes by mixing action and comedy into nice crowd-pleasers (he directed the Rush Hour movies). It may not work all the time, but Ratner has received great success by creating simple, yet enjoyable entertainment. And the same goes for his latest movie, Tower Heist.
It contains everything you would expect from one of his movies. He was able to get a stellar cast led by Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, and focuses on a topic that is timely and makes us hope we might be able to get some revenge on those Wall Street crooks who seem to always get away with everything.
Josh Kovacs (Stiller) is the manager of a New York City luxurious apartment complex where he makes every guest feel important and every one of his employees feel like they are needed. He is the right-hand man to the millionaire Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), who owns the building and lives in the fanciest penthouse located at the very top of it. Josh likes Shaw and enjoys working for him. He takes pride in what he does. And once Shaw is arrested for fraud, Josh doesn’t want to believe it. At first, he doesn’t. But he soon realizes his boss is a swindler, and all of the employees that work for him become victims in one of Shaw’s Ponzi schemes.
Josh thought he was doing everyone a favor by letting Shaw invest all of their pensions, and now they are left with nothing. So to make it up to them, he comes up with a plan to steal Shaw’s millions that is hidden somewhere inside the penthouse. The only problem is Josh and the rest of the employees have no clue on how to pull off a heist, and that is where Slide (Murphy) comes in. He is a street criminal with some experience, and with his help, maybe this crazy plan will actually work. Maybe.
This comedy caper has a lot of ridiculous scenes in it, especially once the heist gets going. There are quite a few things that just simply aren’t plausible no matter how hard you try to justify it. With that said, it is exciting to watch and is actually suspenseful at times. Along with Stiller and Murphy, the rest of the cast is made up of actors such as Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Pena, and Tea Leoni. Ratner gives all of them some good scenes and they all work so well together. Their chemistry makes the movie flow so easily. It’s a delight to see all of them having some fun and no one taking themself or their situation too seriously.
Now, I have read about how this movie brings Murphy back to form and away from his childish roles of the last few years. And that is true up to a certain point. Murphy is more raw than we are used to seeing. There is no doubt about that. His performance is a lot better than in Norbit, Imagine That, and Meet Dave, but he is not as funny as some people claim. There are other actors who have just as many comedic lines as he does. But I can’t argue that he may be picking better roles. Let’s just hope he keeps it up.
Tower Heist is goofy, but it keeps your interest and provides some easy entertainment for all to enjoy. It isn’t as funny as you might expect, but the action makes up for most of it. It looks like everyone who is involved is having a blast, so let yourself do the same.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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