Stiller, Murphy Recharge Careers in Comedic Heist

Comedy legends and newcomers devise a plan to steal from a Wall Street big wig.

If Ocean had his eleven and managed to steal from multiple Las Vegas casinos, Ben Stiller can certainly put a team together and wipe out one million dollar penthouse and its crooked resident.  

In Tower Heist, residents and employees of The Tower, a high-rise apartment complex in the heart of New York, put their financial faith in Wall Street big shot, Arthur Shaw, who lives in the top floor penthouse with a luxurious $100 bill-themed rooftop pool. When Shaw defrauds the other residents and workers, Ben Stiller, the building manager, organizes a multi-million dollar heist with payback in mind.

It’s been quite some time since Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Matthew Broderick were in their prime. Tower Heist is a gamble to rejuvenate all three careers, including Brett Ratner, who has consistently declined in directorial quality. However, Ratner directs Tower Heist exceptionally well, mixing the heist genre with an established vibe of comedy seen in 90s. Stiller fits the role of the building manager of The Tower, reeling in the goofiness for a more subservient character. Murphy is a petty crook called Slide, yammering a mile a minute ala a hybrid of Shrek’s Donkey and Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network. Broderick comes off as a neurotic intellectual who lost everything in Wall Street. A far stretch from his days of Ferris Bueller, but is a welcomed addition to this vengeful motley crue. 

Teaming up veteran comedians with more dramatic actors results in an uneven ensemble, with the former forced to tote the majority of the film’s entertaining weight. The chemistry benefits most when specific actors are on screen together rather than the ensemble putting all their heads together, mixing and matching comedy with drama. Stiller and Murphy work as the strongest pair, playing off each other while others like Tea Leoni and Gabourey Sidibe are simply along for the ride. Alan Alda plays millionaire Arthur Shaw, with such confidence where he interchanges innocence with smugness with the slightest subtlety. Even with its light ensemble, Ratner tends to favor the comedic actors over the dramatic actors except for Alda, utilizing as many laughs as possible.    

Tower Heist starts off slow as the pace, initially focusing primarily on Stiller and his relationships with his employees and residents of The Tower.  Once Murphy is added to the mix, training Stiller and company how to steal, the film begins to take the reins of a full-out caper. In the midst of planning the heist, Stiller attempts to build a relationship with FBI agent Tea Leoni. Fortunately, the romantic tangent is minimized and ends abruptly, concentrating more on the actual heist.   

Though the motives of the employees turned overnight vigilantes ignites an interest concerning the plot advancement, the build-up is lackluster in its intricate planning. Likewise, the heist is dumb down, satisfying a hunger for outlandish comedic moments rather than the complexity typically considered a genre staple. For its entertainment value, the final act heist manages to link one frantic sequence to the next with seamless transitions to keep the tension consistently flowing and ejects realism for more energetic action sequences.

Even though it isn’t a foolproof plan, Tower Heist does what it set out to do by resurrecting many declining careers yet still entertaining audiences with a throwback caper. 

GRADE: B (8/10)
This review is also available on Blu-Ray.com