'Tower Heist' is a nice caper movie with Ben Stiller and a good old Eddie Murphy
Submitted by admin on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 5:38pm
The comedy caper movie "Tower Heist" playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City has an all-star cast, a decent script and solid direction that keeps the bull wheels turning and the laughs coming. Ben Stiller as Josh Kovacs shares the lead with Eddie Murphy as a professional crook Slide.
Josh is the manager of a fancy New York City building where Arthur Shaw is the top guest living in a penthouse with a Ferrari parked in his living room. But Shaw turns out to be a high-finance crook (where have we read about that kind of crook lately?) and Josh has to tell his building staff that their pensions and savings are gone.
FBI agent Téa Leoni as Claire Denham arrests Shaw and Josh gets the idea of cracking the safe hidden in Shaw's penthouse. He enlists Mathew Broderick, as a former Wall Street bankrupt investor, Gabourey Sidibe, a maid, and Michael Pena as his gang.
Josh enlists Slide by paying his bail (and the scene where Murphy is told someone as paid his bail is low-key delightful) and they embark on getting into the penthouse during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
You don't want to know the McGuffin (as Alfred Hitchcock used to call his plot devices) that would spoil the fun, and fun is plentiful here. As are some stomach-tightening aerial stunts (OK, so they're computer stuff). In the end Stiller makes sure all his staff get their rewards, Alda goes to prison and Murphy is resplendent in a three-piece suit.
The ensemble cast is all-pro, the laughs are frequent and there's very little to weaken the story. Murphy is changed here, back in his pre-costume antics and a lift whenever he's on the screen. Stiller is a authentic Brooklyn (or is it Queens?) type and Téa Leoni is a pretty standard FBIer, although she does a drink scene neatly.
A fun movie, perhaps not the most original version of counter-crook heist flicks, but at least a 6+ on a 1-10 scale.
---Sam Bauman
CAST
- Ben Stiller as Josh Kovacs, the building manager. Stiller was paid $15M for the role.
- Eddie Murphy as Slide, a petty crook who Josh turns to for help. Murphy joined the cast and also became a producer on the film. He was paid $7.5M for his work.
- Casey Affleck as Charlie Gibbs, the building concierge and Josh's brother-in-law.
- Alan Alda as Arthur Shaw, a Wall Street billionaire placed under house arrest for stealing $2 billion. On his character, Alda said "Shaw is sometimes described as a Bernie Madoff-like character. I'm not sure. I don't think anyone has ever operated on the scale that Madoff did.
- Matthew Broderick as Mr. Fitzhugh, a former Wall Street investor made bankrupt. Broderick joined the cast on October 26, 2010.
- Téa Leoni as Claire Denham, an FBI special agent assigned to Shaw's case. Leoni joined the cast on October 21, 2010. Leoni worked with FBI technical advisor Anne C. Beagan to help her prepare for her role. On her character and work with Beagan, Leoni said "Agent Denham is your standard-issue, ball-breaking FBI agent. Michael Peña as Enrique Dev'reaux, the bellhop and the newest employee of the building staff.
- Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa Montero, a Jamaican-born maid threatened with deportation by Shaw's theft.
- Judd Hirsch plays Mr. Simon, the building staff's boss
- Stephen Henderson plays Lester, the tower's retiring doorman.
- Nina Arianda as Miss Iovenko, attorney-in-training
- Juan Carlos Hernandez as Manuel the security guard
- Harry O'Reilly as FBI Agent Dansk
- Marcia Jean Kurtz as Rose
- Peter Van Wagner as attorney Marty Klein
- Željko Ivanek as FBI Director Mazin.
- Directed by Brett Ratner
- Produced by Brian Grazer, Eddie Murphy, Kim Roth
- Screenplay by Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson
- Story by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, Ted Griffin
- Music by Christophe Beck
- Cinematography Dante Spinotti
- Editing by Mark Helfrich
- Running time 104 minutes, rated PG-13
