Tower Heist

Tower Heist is a film that by all rights should have been an exciting return to the 1980s-style, big-budget, high-concept, caper-comedy-thriller, and a major career comeback for the greatest comedy star of the that decade, Eddie Murphy.  Unfortunately, in the hands of Brett Ratner, the film ends up being just a serviceable summer distraction.  The film was originally intended as a black Ocean’s 11, with all the top African-American stars of that day in a comedic heist picture. I would have liked to see that movie, but the inspired premise and terrific casting of this movie had no less potential.

With Ben Stiller playing the manager of an sleek residential hotel for the ultra rich, and Alan Alda playing a Bernie Madoff-type finical swindler, the plot works as revenge fantasy, madcap caper and social commentary.  The precision of the first act, coupled with Ratner’s ability to set up the geography of the mid-town Manhattan location and effortlessly establish the way everything in the Tower Hotel works, led me to believe I was in capable hands and primed me for great entertainment.  But, the film quickly deflates into a sloppy collection of sequences where every strong scene is followed by a weak one, and the exciting collection of actors never seem to live up to the comedic potential of their characters.  This is one of those films that feels like it was probably more fun to make than it is to watch.  As the film plays out, you wonder if the best lines were said off camera when the cast and crew were just kicking back.  It isn’t a bad film, but I only give it two stars because it should have been a great film.  It is a real missed opportunity for those of us begging for this style of movie to come back into fashion and be good again.