Tower Heist

Tower Heist is a cathartic comedy for the Occupy era. How could you possibly read it otherwise? A lucratively wealthy investor—a titan of the banking industry—acts irresponsibly and swindles dozens of people out of their life savings; his victims are left to pick up the pieces. In one scene, one of those victims takes a golf club and begins gleefully hacking away at the investor's priceless, vintage automobile. I have seen movies in which cars are demolished, but I've never experienced an audience react with such uproarious fervor.

The Ponzi schemer is Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), who we initially believe to be an upstanding member of the financial community and a good and gracious resident of a luxurious New York apartment complex, simply called The Tower. Alda pulls off a neat trick of seeming genuinely warm at first, and growing just the tiniest bit more villainous every time he is on the screen. A few years back, Shaw was asked by The Tower's manager, Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), to handle the pension plans for the entire Tower staff. Now Shaw is facing criminal charges for fraud, his victims told that the money is simply gone. The members of the Tower staff are destitute.

Eddie Murphy as Slide, Ben Stiller as Josh Kovacs

Thing get pretty real in a couple of scenes, and the screenplay lays it on pretty thick—one of those defrauded is about to have a baby and is now without insurance, several are immigrants, and one was just weeks away from retirement; this latter fellow, in the film's darkest moment, tries to step in front of a train to end his life. This is very much a movie of the times, complete with all the right signifiers—references to specific financial institutions, for instance—but it's not a political picture. It's a cheerful, feel-good kind of comedy, and, if you don't overthink it, it's a great deal of fun.

Alan Alda as Arthur Shaw

As the movie's title alludes, the plot revolves around a plot hatched by Josh to break into Shaw's penthouse apartment and steal $20 million—enough to pay back the defrauded Tower employees and then some. This is not Ocean's 11, despite some vaguely similar plot machinations. That movie dupes you into thinking it's halfway plausible, sheerly through confidence and style. Tower Heist makes no such efforts. Once the heist actually begins, it's apparent that the whole thing is patently absurd, and it only grows sillier as you go. Look for moments where logic falters and credulity breaks and you will surely find ample criticisms of the movie—but then, that's not really the point of a movie like this, is it?

In order to carry out his plan, Josh must enlist the help of several accomplices; the formation of the team is always a hallmark of caper movies, and this one is no different. It's fun to see him pull the gang together, including his brother-in-law Charlie (Casey Affleck), surly and skeptical from the start; financial planner Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), recently evicted from The Tower and with nothing to lose; Enrique (Michael Pena), a new Tower employee who really doesn't want to go back to working at Burger King; Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe), a maid who crosses herself before she cracks safes; and Slide (Eddie Murphy), a childhood friend of Josh's who grew up to be a cat burglar.

Casey Affleck as Charlie

Everyone in the cast is funny, but some more than others. The last two characters present the movie with some of its biggest problems. Sidibe is asked to play a Jamaican, and her character skirts cliché so openly, she actually ends some of her punchlines with "mon." Much has been made about Eddie Murphy's return to non-family comedy, and he does seem to relish his role as a foul-mouthed criminal, earning the movie's biggest laughs—but his character, too, is a pretty nasty stereotype, one that had me scanning, unsuccessfully, for some trace of irony or meta-commentary. He refers to himself with the n-word and to his white accomplices as "b*tches." It's a little too much, and it's a shame the filmmakers had to reduce its only two black actors to mere stereotypes.

Matthew Broderick as Fitzhugh

I like Stiller's Josh a lot more. He is a good man who is good at his job, and takes pride in devoting himself to it 100 percent. Some movies might have suggested he was a "workaholic," but here his cheerful devotion to his job is seen as a good thing. He cares about doing the job well, and he cares about being kind to others. These are the qualities that the movie champions.

Tower Heist is directed by Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand and the Rush Hour movies), who has a reputation among film critics as a bit of a hack. There are times in this movie where it seems like he is just learning how to put a movie together; he opens the scene with a literal game of chess between Shaw and Josh, a symbolic move that is all too obvious, and then he gives us a new employee in The Tower, the perfect excuse for Stiller to give an expositional speech, describing the basic plot and all the central players. It's transparent, but then again, it works; the movie is briskly-paced and often very funny. Your cathartic mileage may vary, but it's hard to deny that there is some good-natured silliness here that makes for a very entertaining movie.

Talk About It

1. Who are the "good guys" in this movie? Do you think justice is served, when all is said and done?
2. Do you think that, in the case of Josh's "tower heist" plan, the ends justify the means?
3. Is it ever OK to break the law? Under what circumstances? What if the law conflicts with your religious beliefs?
4. What are the virtues—in Josh and his friends—that the movie celebrates? And what are the traits that seem to make Shaw so villainous?

The Family Corner

Tower Heist is rated PG-13 for language and sexual content. The obscenities are pretty persistent, including just about every word out of Eddie Murphy's mouth; there are four-letter words, a few misuses of the Lord's name, and a few racial epithets. The sexual content involves a couple of scenes of innuendo and suggestive dialogue, as well as a brief glimpse of the cover of a Playboy, which has some very near-nudity.

Photos © Universal

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