As I am a huge Ben Stiller fan I was really looking forward to his latest effort, Tower Heist. I will say up front I liked the film. I could have loved it, but the ending let it down a bit. Stiller who is the son of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara has never failed to deliver in the comedy field. Must be something in his genes. Now unlike Tropic Thunder and Zoolander, Stiller is not at the helm of this film. I can't help but feel that if he had written and directed Tower Heist it would have been great instead of just good.
One of the things that let this film down was the way the studios marketed it. The teasers and trailers that hyped the film made it seen like an outright comedy. This was not the case at all. The film was a "genre bender" as my daughter likes to put it. Falling more into the range of a funny Action/Caper film. It was not an outright comedy. I know this because when I watch a comedy, I usually have to watch it at least twice. Because if it is a good comedy I have laughed so much while watching it I have missed huge chunks of dialogue. I did not have that problem with Tower Heist.
The cast list is impressive. Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Tea Leoni, and Judd Hirsh. It seems like ensemble films are all the rage at the moment. All the actors acquitted themselves wonderfully with their respective performances. Ms Leoni in particular showed a flair for comedy that was surprising.
The plot revolves around an exclusive apartment building that appears to be a thinly veiled version of Trump Tower. The folks who live in this building are near the top of the Forbes list. Stiller plays Josh Kovacs the manager of the apartment building. Casey Affleck plays Kovacs's brother-in-law Charlie the bumbling concierge. Mattew Broderick is the hapless Mr Fitzhugh who has lost everything and is being evicted from his apartment. Alan Alda portrays shyster Arthur Shaw with his usual sense of style. Shaw is a financial investment whiz who has a close relationship with Kovacs. Kovacs asks Shaw to invest the apartment buildings staff retirement fund for them with the hopes of improving their pensions. Enter Tea Leoni as Special Agent Claire Denham who arrests Shaw for fraud. It seems that Shaw is only a whiz at taking people's money and investing it into his own pocket. Kovacs then decides that the money must be in Shaw's apartment and that he needs to get it back.
Kovacs then coerces his brother-in-law, Mr Fitzhugh, new employee Enrique Dev’Reaux (played by Michael Peña) and his criminal neighbour and one-time school mate Eddie Murphy into entering Shaw's apartment and retrieving the stolen pension fund.
The film is clever and it did make me laugh in all the right places. The misguided marketing campaign used by the studios though did not do the film any favours. As I mentioned before this is not an outright comedy film. It was an Action/Caper film with a lot of laughs in it. A definite winner and a film I enjoyed watching.
So if you watch Tower Heist, think 'Ocean's Five' and you will most likely not be disappointed.
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