Tower Heist is based on a fantastic notion played for broad entertainment value rather than genuine concern for the underlying modern economic challenges. Brett Ratner’s humorous caper about a group of coworkers who take on a Bernie Madoff kind who has scammed them out of their retirement is snappy, smartly cast, and wise in a well-upholstered New York sort of manner, and it is sprinkled with smart-mouthed sass, much of it given by Eddie Murphy.
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This well-executed crowd-pleaser should serve its purpose well through Thanksgiving and even beyond.
Release Date of Tower Heist
The movie was released on November 4, 2011
Tower Heist Cast
- Stephen McKinley as Henderson Lester
- Judd Hirsch as Mr. Simon
- Téa Leoni Special as Agent Claire Denham
- Michael Peña as Enrique Dev’Reaux
- Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa
- Nina Arianda as Miss Iovenko
- Marcia Jean as Kurtz Rose
- Harry O’Reilly as Special Agent Dansk
- Peter Van Wagner as Marty Klein, Esq.
Plot of Tower Heist
.The opening scene is a stunner: a look down at Ben Franklin’s $100 face, which graces the bottom of the pool atop the Tower, Manhattan’s most costly housing spire (played by Trump Tower Columbus Circle, previously the Gulf + Western Building). Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) emerges from it, the self-satisfied Tower owner and investing king famed for the spectacular rewards he always gives to his patrons.
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With the rapidity of passengers flying from a carousel, the melting pot of side characters swings into view. Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), who enjoys complicity with Shaw due to their common Astoria working-class roots, controls the complex like a cool ship’s captain, managing the countless personnel, ministering to the wealthy residents, and keeping a watch on arrivals and departures via a battery of video screens. In a couple of minutes, he is compelled to hire enthusiastic job candidate Enrique (Michael Pena) and to attempt to remove at first when stockbroker Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), whose condo is in foreclosure. Then there’s Charlie (Casey Affleck), the front-desk employee whose wife is ready to give birth, and Lester (Stephen McKinley Henderson), the revered veteran doorman.
But his retirement is predicated on his ship arriving; Lester, like many others, has pledged his entire savings to the legendary Shaw, who is currently being investigated by the Feds, led by Special Agent Claire Denham (Tea Leoni), for securities fraud. Josh is responsible for informing the employees that their pensions have been canceled. The three musketeers are dismissed after he, Enrique, and Charlie go to Shaw’s apartment and Josh takes a golf club to Shaw’s cherry-red Ferrari, which is parked where a grand piano would usually be.
Review of Tower Heist
Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist is like a release celebration with an open bar, as provided as you don’t actually ask too several questions. With the Occupy Wall Street movement getting attention across the nation, it’s a celebrity revenge fantasy that’s sure to incite the moral anger of the average middle-class film buff, but the screenwriter by Ocean’s Eleven writer Ted Griffin and occasional Ratner writing partner Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour 2 and 3) felt forced and shoddy.
There’s a delicate line between casual suspension of belief and downright credulity when it comes to watching movies. Though script writers Griffin and Nathanson do a good job of building up the people and circumstances – even being rather thorough in the opening scenes – their hold on the material begins to loosen just when the action should be picking up. Though Ratner does his best to maintain pace as the characters carry out their scheme, story details occasionally bleed into sheer leaps of faith that startle us out of the film’s enchantment.
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Tower Heist does have one redeeming feature: an incredibly talented comic team that works hard to gloss over the occasional slip in logic. With Stiller as the unassuming core at the heart of this criminal cell, the eccentricities of the supporting members become more apparent, particularly in the situations of co-stars Murphy and Broderick. Murphy’s motormouthed hustling harkens back to his breakthrough roles in R-rated comedies like 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop (though notably toned down to PG-13 standards), and he does a great job of recapturing the fire that catapulted him to prominence. And, as the former Wall Street hotshot who fell hard, Broderick acts defeated so convincingly that we can’t help but laugh when he regains his confidence late in the film.