Film Reviews

Tower Heist

• Rating:
• Director: Brett Ratner
• Starring: Alan Alda
• Details: US/104mins 12A

Being heavily pushed as Eddie Murphy's big comeback movie, Tower Heist is a fun, breezy and well made film that uses its trump card (Murphy) only sporadically, but generally delivers the thrills. There are a couple of cracking lines here, and director Ratner does a solid job of bringing a huge ensemble cast together without ever allowing the pace to lag.
Stiller is the manager of a high end apartment complex that houses some of the richest people in Manhattan. Great at his job, he nonetheless feels responsible when one of his buildings richest tenants, Alan Alda's smug investor, is charged with financial fraud, having squandered all of his staff's pensions. Forging a plan to get the money back, he enlists the help of other former employees and Eddie Murphy's fast talking street hustler; together they plan a daring heist.
It is Murphy's finest work since Bowfinger - which is a bar he lowered himself with a slew of appalling kiddie flicks. Voicing Donkey aside, it's been a depressing few years for one of the funniest comedians to ever grace a stage microphone in hand, but this could be the nudge in the right direction he needs. Murphy's guy here isn't a million miles away from one of his best roles, Reggie in 48 Hours. While a lack of screen time never sees it scale those heights, it's a performance that proves once again how effective he can be with the right material. Broderick and Affleck are also very funny, while Stiller is basically the straight man, carrying the plot forward.
Easily Ratner's best film to date, the director is helped immensely by a sharp, surprisingly smart script and talented, game players. Large, star heavy casts are never easy to manage, but Ratner constantly surprises you with who he gives the best lines too. The set-up is, of course, completely ridiculous, and more than once borrows from Ocean's Eleven - who it shares a scripter with. That said, it achieves exactly what it sets out to do; there are broad laughs, high rise thrills and an easy to follow plot that still somehow feels effortlessly smart.
A crowd-pleaser that will play brilliantly to the multiplex crowd; expect Tower Heist to make a fortune.

Review by Mike Sheridan