11-10-11 Movie Review:  Tower Heist

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There is nothing particularly special about Tower Heist; it is a light-hearted caper-comedy thriller that is neither very thrilling nor very funny, but it movies quickly, has a few novelty aspects, and looks good, and it isn’t offensive in any way unless you are sensitive to amoral characters. I makes only pretty weak stabs at social relevance, though Alan Alda’s character is obviously modeled on Bernie Madoff. It doesn’t always make much sense; for instance, the big pot of money was supposed to have been readily available in case of emergency, and wait and see how readily available it is.

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But there is certain ingenuity to the basically clinched plot, and there is a democratically appealing emphasis on the ability of ordinary working-class people such as Gabourey Sidibe of Precious to do extraordinary things the supposed experts can’t; that sort of thing always pleases some people. Eddie Murphy is about the only one who impresses out of a strong cast who aren’t working too hard: Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Tea Leonie, Michael Pena, Stephen Henderson, and Alda are good enough but no better, about on par with the script. The way-up-high Harold Lloyd action is funny and suspenseful, but ends in a situation I couldn’t make sense of, and the big Macy’s Thanksgiving parade interested me a lot more, which was distracting. All in all, I expect Tower Heist to do well enough; its flaws are typical of the genre, others will find it funnier than I do, and if you turn down your critical faculties, it’s pretty good entertainment.