3/29/2023 0 Comments The tower heistInstead, we sprint from the "planning" stages to the "execution," which basically involves Kovacs and company. Kovacs calls upon an ex-con neighbor (Eddie Murphy) to help him plan the robbery, but as far as I can tell, no one ever comes up with a plan. Kovacs explodes and gets fired, before vowing vengeance (and restitution) by getting a group of unlikely characters (his concierge Casey Affleck, evicted resident Matthew Broderick and dim-bulb operator man Michael Pena) to sneak into Shaw's condo and steal $25 million. Turns out, Shaw has defrauded his clients and lost all their money, including the entire staff of The Tower. The penthouse is occupied by Arthur Shaw (Alda, having a lot of fun), an investment kingpin who plays computer chess with Kovacs in this film's clumsy attempt at foreshadowing. Stiller plays Josh Kovacs, a Queens kid who runs "The Tower" with a succession of colorful characters, all of whom revere him. This is "Ocean's 11" put together by morons.ģ. I don't think Ratner stopped for half a second to think about any aspect of this film other than the 25-word pitch and the cast. This is the most incoherent, slapdash "heist" movie I think I've ever seen. This must have been particularly difficult for Ratner, who seems to have shot "Tower Heist"'s scenes while in a dead sprint, like he had 20 minutes in-between lunch meetings and just needed to squeeze in shots really fast. That might work for Chris Tucker-Charlie Sheen cop comedies (maybe), but with "Tower Heist," Ratner is trying his hand at a procedural, a crime caper, the type of story that requires planning, care, seamless execution. He also has absolute faith that, if he hasn't thought through a scene clearly (which is obviously a regular occurrence), trusting that talented actors to pull him through will suffice. Now, Ratner has been a critical whipping boy for years now, with considerable justification, but the guy's films have had success for a reason: They're glib, they're breezy, they're light as a feather and they don't pretend to be about anything more than what's right there on the screen. I think the problem, perhaps not surprisingly, is "Tower Heist"'s director, Brett Ratner. You've got a heist comedy with legitimate urgency and a cast that's desperate to please: How in the world could you screw this up? Let me tell you: "Tower Heist" finds a way. A once-in-a-lifetime cast, with comic heavyweights Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy up top and terrific supporting characters all the way down, from Alan Alda to Michael Pena to Tea Leoni. Rather unprecedented access to some splendid New York City locations, specifically Trump Tower, which is smartly called "The Tower" here, so you don't start getting confused about the movie's birth certificate. A crackerjack, straight-from-the-headlines premise (luxury condo workers have their pensions stolen and lost by a Madoff-type character and get revenge by using their knowledge of the high-rise to steal their money back). Boy, does "Tower Heist" ever have everything going for it.
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