|
Brett Ratner’s ensemble film Tower Heist is
a comedy that
unfortunately relies too much on the talent of its all-star cast and
not enough
on story continuity or character development. Advertised as one of this
year's
comedy frontrunners, its blink-and-you’ll-miss-it humour makes for a
disappointing viewing. It is not all downhill as Eddie Murphy’s return
to his
controversial roots is surprisingly refreshing and carries the film
solidly to
its conclusion.
Tower
Heist follows
the employees of an executive apartment building ‘The Tower’ and the
repercussions of losing their pensions after one of their resident’s,
businessman Arthur Shore (Alan Alda), gambles said pensions on Wall
Street.
After being arrested for fraud by the FBI, Arthur is placed under house
arrest,
pending a court date. The concierge Josh (Ben Stiller) discovers that
Arthur is
hiding millions of dollars in collateral somewhere within his
apartment. Following an incident in the hotel, Josh and several other
employees are fired. After Josh and several other employees are fired
from the hotel he decides to gather a rag-tag bunch of misfits (Matthew
Broderick, Casey
Affleck and
Gabourey Sidibe) to infiltrate the building’s top security. Josh is
also forced
to take on petty criminal Slide (Eddie Murphy) in order to learn the
tricks of
the trade and become a real robbery extraordinaire. Also added into the
mix is Josh’s
burgeoning romance with head FBI agent Claire (Tea Leoni) and his own
views
towards what is right and what is lawful. What transpires is an odd mix
of high-speed
heist meets dead-end comedy.
The film has all the basics
for a highly entertaining viewing but in the end there is no cigar. Its
main
problem is its inability to balance its two chief genres of comedy and
fast-paced action. Ben Stiller known internationally for his humorous
displays
in Zoolander (2001) and more recently
in the Meet the Parents franchise is
wasted as Josh because he doesn’t seem to synchronise with any of the
supporting cast. Murphy is fortunately able to pick up the slack and
his
one-twos with Sidibe’s Odessa are some of the funniest points in the
entire
film. When Ratner chooses to concentrate primarily on the robbery
aspect of the
piece we are finally able to sit back and enjoy the clever planning and
the
endless pouring over building blueprints that should be expected in any
heist
film. It is particularly innovative that the characters themselves are
not
experts in safe infiltration or masters of impersonations like those
shown in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but simply workers who
know the building top to bottom due to their prolonged employment. We
can
assume then that I could rob my local Woolworths due to my own intimate
knowledge
of its workings and dollar intake. Regrettably, the conclusion descends
into
the impossible and the reality of the entire film is ruined by some
questionable efforts. Tower Heist is
a hybrid film that attempts to highlight the lighter side of mass
robbery but
ultimately fails to deliver on its comedic aspects. It's worth viewing
for its
glimmers of talent but in the end it is not a steal.
|
