Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: Brett Ratner
Quick Impressions:
For weeks I’ve been dying to see the movie Take Shelter, and then when I finally got the opportunity, for some reason, I went to see Tower Heist. My husband and I were in the mood for something a little less intense than a movie about mental illness and/or the end of the world, and I’d just read an interview with Gabourey Sidibe in which she’d divulged that the part of Odessa had been written for her. Plus, knowing that Eddie Murphy would be hosting the Oscars produced by Brett Ratner made me curious what kind of performance Ratner would coax from Murphy as a director. Of course, by the time we left the theater, Ratner had stepped down, and Murphy was thinking about following him.
Still Tower Heist managed to entertain us for the entire hour and forty-five minutes it was on the screen. To be honest, it was probably the best Brett Ratner movie I’ve ever seen, but possibly that’s because I’ve avoided Bret Ratner’s movies since I saw X-Men: The Last Stand.
Was Tower Heist a non-stop, laugh-out-loud comedy? No. But it was a pleasant heist flick with engaging characters, occasional laughs, some touching moments, smile-inducing twists, and lots of positive energy.
The Good:
One of the greatest strengths of Tower Heist is that it assembles such a large ensemble of performers with diverse talents that no one person has to carry the movie. Ben Stiller is a solid leading man, but his movies are usually most successful when he shares the screen with others. Both Matthew Broderick and Eddie Murphy are fantastically talented (in different ways), but neither has been a very successful lead since the late eighties. Michael Peña, Casey Affleck, and Gabourey Sidibe have all played meaty roles in gritty dramas. What wonderful actors to round out a comedy ensemble! And then there’s still Judd Hirsch, and best of all, Alan Alda! The only cast member who seemed off to me was Tea Leoni. I think she’s a great actress and usually enjoyable to watch, but I found her character in this movie off-puttingly weird.
Another strength of Tower Heist is its cultural relevance. White-collar crime is not exactly a novel cause of conflict, but the scenario in the film is certainly believable, and for the people involved in the heist, the stakes are realistically high. Lingering over the near tragedy of Lester the doorman (played by Stephen Henderson), the movie manages to find just enough heart to win the audience’s support for the crime executed by Kovacks and crew.
The heist itself is also just clever enough to keep us entertained, and the movie is funny, especially after Eddie Murphy’s character, Slide, comes into the picture. The movie is not uproariously hilarious, but it is consistently entertaining, and it handles the sadder moments pretty well.
Also, I love Thanksgiving and personally think there are far-too-few movies that showcase the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Funniest Scene:
Almost all of the laughs in the film come in the middle, during Slide’s attempts to train the unlikely crew and make them into real thieves. Depending on what you find funny, any one of these short scenes could be the funniest. Of course, Sidibe’s Jamaican maid, Odessa, is consistently amusing, and lots of absurd moments occur during the heist itself.
Best Scene Visually:
Once Kovacks and his crew find the money Shaw has hidden, their frantic and increasingly outrageous efforts to remove it from the building are definitely something to behold. The solution the crew ultimately devises provides a perfect visual ending to the film, a nice echo of the movie’s opening.
Best Joke:
Ben Stiller and Casey Affleck managed to make me laugh pretty hard with their animated argument about Mrs. Jin.
Best Action Sequence:
The defining moment of the movie comes when Stiller’s Kovacks recognizes Shaw as a true villain and irrevocably turns on him by wreaking havoc with a crowbar. This defiant act of personal vengeance sets the stage for all the action that follows and also clearly establishes Kovacks and Shaw as adversaries that will never again be able to find common ground.
Best Surprise:
There are a few twists in the plot, but don’t expect to have your mind blown because if you go in expecting twists, you’re going to see them coming. I did think the surprise addition of the dog was nice, and I loved the explanation for his behavior that Lester gave to the FBI.
The Performances:
Alan Alda reveals his true wickedness a bit too quickly. His Shaw seems like a nice enough guy (though certainly a self-obsessed and immodest one), but under the slightest provocation, he pulls a move worthy of Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and transforms into the most evil creature ever seen on screen. I thought his malevolence toward humankind was a little much, but he’s always engaging to watch and did make a villain easy to root against.
I wish we could have seen more of Judd Hirsch as Mr. Simon, and I also found Nina Arianda’s Miss Iovenko an intriguing and underused character (though I understand why they avoided showing her much until the end). Stephen Henderson’s Lester was one of the most important characters in the movie, providing a lot of the heart that made the heist seem worthwhile, and Henderson’s portrayal was winning and convincing.
Matthew Broderick is really great as Mr. Fitzhugh. I can’t remember the last time Broderick made such a favorable impression on me in a live-action movie role. Casey Affleck can be a fantastic actor, and he brought an amusing realism to Charlie. Michael Peña managed to be surprisingly funny as Enrique Dev’Reaux. I’m used to seeing him in more serious roles, but he definitely does well with comedic material.
Gabourey Sidibe managed to be funny every time she was on screen. She was magnificent as Odessa and definitely has commendable range. (Though why isn’t the problem she announces in the beginning ever solved?)
The only performance I didn’t care for was Tea Leoni’s. I’m not convinced that it’s her fault, though. I usually like Leoni, but I found the character of the easily intoxicated, overly forward FBI agent a bit unrealistic, though extremely convenient for advancing the plot. I thought her behavior was a too unprofessional given the nature of her job.
The Negatives:
Special Agent Claire Denham’s behavior bothered me not just because it was unrealistic, but also because it was entirely too convenient. I thought the script was a little lazy there. Denham provided Kovacks with far too much information about Shaw’s case.
The story was a little too predictable, in general. It’s not that the movie made any major missteps. It didn’t really do anything wrong. Ratner pulled off the heist flick without a hitch. But the movie didn’t do anything exceptional, either. If it were an essay, it would get a B+ and not understand why it didn’t get an A when it dotted every i and crossed every t.
Overall:
Tower Heist was a good movie, and that’s saying a lot. It wasn’t great. Did anyone expect it to be great? More importantly, it wasn’t bad, and I’ll bet a lot of people expected it to be bad. In this case, lack of failure means success. I enjoyed the movie from start to finish, particularly because of the varied and engaging characters. Definitely more a heist movie than a comedy, Tower Heist has a winning energy and a charismatic cast. If you’re looking for something light for an evening’s entertainment, definitely consider Tower Heist. It showcases all of its players’ strengths and isn’t hurt by any actor’s weaknesses because the ensemble works.