11/03/2012: Tower Heist [2011]

There is nothing quite like a good heist movie, but I usually prefer mine to lean a little less towards the comedy side. While the trailers made Tower Heist appear to be a clear cut straight line, it turned out to be full of surprising twists from the get go. While most were predictable, it was good to see that this movie was not just some kinda money grab.





Tower Heist is about a group of employees who work in the most expensive residential apartment tower in New York. When they find out the towers owner has been caught in a financial fraud scandal they quickly realize that all their pensions have also been lost. What follows is a group of disgruntled employees attempting to rob the tower itself, in order to recoup their losses.

Tower Heist has managed to steal itself quite the cast of comedians, the two most recognizable (and clearly emblazoned upon the poster) are Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy. It's been a while since I've seen either of these two but they proved they've still got what it takes. Complementing them is Michael Peña, Casey Afleck, Tia Leoni and Mathew Broderick. The movie is without a doubt a comedy, but is an enjoyable one at that, which will have you laughing out load a few times.

There are a lot of words I could put here. I'll let you imagine your own.

While I clearly knew what the overall plot was from both the trailer and the plot synopsis there was a few times in the beginning I was hoping the movie would go in a different direction. The first was when Kovacs is showing Enrique the day to day workings of the hotel. I thought that just a movie showing the inner workings of the hotel, featuring several smaller plot lines would have been a funny film. Chances are it would have been hard to keep the same pacing and humour threw the whole movie however.

The second time I thought the movie could have gone in a different direction was when Kovacs initiates Code Black thinking the tower is going to be robbed. At this point I actually thought that the trailer had been misdirecting and the movie was going to go very much in the Die Hard direction. Perhaps sadly, it did not.

Yippe Ki Yay Mother Fucker!

  I will admit that at one point,( the scene from the above screen,) I did fall asleep. I awoke to [SPOILERS]
surprisingly find a car suddenly in an elevator, and did not even know it had traveled a few floors on the outside of the building. [/Spoilers]

The movies tower, is in fact Trump tower which you may recognize from the Apprentice. It also feature the Macy's thanksgiving day parade which, television has taught me is a big thing. The movie is also surprisingly long for a comedy, only and hour and fourty  minutes it takes a while for the actual heisting to start, but is just as funny before as it is during.

Over all I would say Tower Heist is an excellent comedy to kill some time, or enjoy on a slow day. It is not by any means setting the bar or reaching new towering heights in the world of big budget comedies, but is still enjoyable for the whole, apparently 13+ family.

Link:
Tower Heist IMDB