TOWER HEIST (12A).
Comedy/Action/Romance. Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Tea Leoni, Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch, Gabourey Sidibe, Director: Brett Ratner.
Thanksgiving is one of the major holidays in America, when shops close and families come together.
New York City celebrates with an annual parade of giant balloons and these colourful festivities provide a perfect cover for a daring robbery in Brett Ratner’s action-packed comedy.
Tower Heist is a largely entertaining if preposterous romp, especially when it comes to the climactic theft.
The laws of physics are ignored and for a final flourish, characters accomplish an impossible feat in a similarly impossible short span of time. It’s a pity the screenwriters cheat because it dissipates dramatic tension and negates any hint of jeopardy.
The unlikely mastermind is Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), manager of The Tower, one of the most luxurious and tightly secured residences in New York City.
Josh has been in charge for more than 10 years and takes care of his staff. He entrusts the workers’ pensions to Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), who is caught stealing $2bn from investors.
The employees’ futures are gone, along with the entire life savings of retiring door man, Lester.
Convinced Arthur must have a multimillion-dollar safety net concealed in his penthouse, Josh approaches petty thief Slide (Eddie Murphy) to plot the perfect heist.
Tower Heist gallops along at a fair lick. Stiller is a likeable hero, risking everything to ensure the staff aren’t swindled out of their dues. Broderick, Affleck and Sidibe, as the sassy housemaid with safe-cracking abilities, lend solid support, while Alda essays a fittingly loathsome villain with influential friends in the right places.
However, Murphy threatens to sink the film every time he opens his mouth and launches into his high volume, flamboyant schtick.
Ratner orchestrates action sequences with aplomb, careening through those gaping holes in the script at breakneck speed.
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