Tower Heist

• Directed by Brett Ratner
• October 24, 2011 (The Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City) / November 4, 2011 (US)

After losing their retirement in the Ponzi scheme of a Wall Street businessman, the manager and some of the staff of a high-end apartment building enlist the aid of a thief and a broke businessman to steal their money back.

Tower Heist is a marginally Thanksgiving movie. Why is it marginally Thanksgiving? Because the titular heist takes place on Thanksgiving. Beyond that Turkey Day has very little connection to the overall story though the Macy’s Parade provides a logical cover in the finale. That does not detract from the story. It is entertaining and rather well done with enjoyable twists and some good laughs.

Ben Stiller is cast as The Tower’s manager Josh Kovaks who knows every inch of the tower and every resident like the back of his hand. He has what he thinks is a close relationship with resident Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) whom he entrusted the staff’s retirement fund and who is the film’s villain.

In full disclosure I never found Alan Alda that funny. He was okay in the humorous moments of M*A*S*H but never really knocked it out of the park for me. He is much more satisfying here as a falsely charming businessman who is discovered to have pulled an epic fraud. As is often the case in real life when the truth is revealed it is a bit hard to believe. And from there he reveals how terrible of a person he is without a disconnect between the image he had put forth and the reality. In short if you paid attention you would see the betrayal coming.

Josh’s motivation comes after it is learned all the money is gone when the retiring doorman Lester (Stephen McKinley Henderson) tries to step in front of a train since nothing is left for his retirement. That is a very dark turn for a film that mostly keeps things silly. Tower Heist is about people trying to get back what was taken and maybe reclaim something in themselves that they lost. It is about getting justice the only way possible.

Eddie Murphy as Darnell “Slide” Davis is absolutely hilarious. Slide is very reminiscent of the characters Murphy played early in his movie career which is what Murphy is fantastic at. He steals every scene he is in. Slide’s interactions with husband seeking immigrant Tower employee Odessa Montero (Gabourey Sidibe) were great but really went nowhere as they did not use her character’s problem in any way that could not also be because of general attraction.

My how times have changed. The robbery takes place on Thanksgiving so part of the cover is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. There are a few images we see that will make it seem this is set a lifetime ago. They feature Joan Rivers (who has since passed away) and the crowd cheering Kanye West (who has had quite the fall from grace). Matt Lauer still has a very public job along with a full head of hair and is not yet known as a creep.

This is just a funny movie along with some interesting twists and turns. And you actually feel good for the at the end. Good guys win and the bad guy get exactly what they deserve. Who can ask for more than that?

Tower Heist is a great comedy crime caper. There are laughs and it will keep you entertained from start to finish. Not sure if this will become a Thanksgiving regular, but it will entertain you when you watch.