On the surface, from a purely technical perspective, Tower Heist appears to be a good film. It’s well constructed and scored, keeping you interested on a superficial level with a strong visual style complimenting a strong score. With a storyline mimicking the headlines, complete with a tale of the “little guy” getting revenge on an evil rich guy, you’d think this could be a strong film that resonates with the current economy. On top of a first rate cast as well, Brett Ratner appears to have a great film on his hands. But there’s one problem with it.
The film is fairly dreadful.
It has a solid premise. A rich billionaire (Alan Alda) has ripped off everyone he knows, including the pensions of the staff at the uber-exclusive NYC tower he lives in. When the tower’s manager (Ben Stiller) recruits a handful of staffers from the tower (Casey Affleck, Michael Pena) and a disgraced Wall Street type (Matthew Broderick) to go with a childhood friend turned professional criminal (Eddie Murphy) to take him of his final stash of cash, hilarity is supposed to ensue. And that’s the problem.
It’s neither funny nor entertaining.
When you have a film top-lined by Eddie Murphy in one of the few times he’s been outside of his wheelhouse as a family-friendly comic, and Ben Stiller playing the straight man instead of a wacky character, the jokes ought to really write themselves. The problem is that Murphy and Stiller aren’t behind the script at all. They’re given fairly bad material and try to turn it into something golden but it doesn’t work all that much. The film’s comedy can’t carry a fairly weak and perfunctory story; Alan Alda is fairly sleazy and a tremendous villain but there’s nothing to the story that makes us want to see him taken down.
The material feels watered down, as well. Tower Heist feels like an R-rated film toned down for a PG-13 film and it’s not surprising considering the film was supposed to be Chris Rock’s Ocean Eleven with a handful of African-American comics who work on the blue side of comedy joining him.
Ratner may not have made an entertaining film but he’s spared no expense in making it look like one. Much like his Rush Hour series may have gone from entertaining to awful fairly quickly, but didn’t lose that slick look, Tower Heist looks just as good as they do. This is a film that has certainly spared no expense in looking and sounding good. Ratner hits all the right notes in telling the story and makes it look fantastic. He hits exactly the right notes in making it look like a good film. With a better script this would be a tremendously entertaining film for both the brain and the eyes.
Tower Heist manages to camouflage a bad story with a slick look and a strong score. With a cast this strong, and filled with so many talented comedians, it’s shocking just how bad this is.
Director: Brett Ratner
Notable Cast: Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda, Tea Leoni, Michael Pena
Writer(s): Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson
