Tower Heist
The latest action-comedy from director Brett Ratner has been overshadowed by the controversy that cost him the job of producing this year’s Oscar-cast, which led to the departure of host Eddie Murphy. This is unfortunate, since it’s Ratner’s most entertaining movie since the first “Rush Hour,” and Murphy’s best live-action performance since “Bowfinger.”
Murphy plays a career criminal brought in by Ben Stiller’s New York posh high-rise manager to steal $20 million from a Wall Street investor (the sleazy Alan Alda) when his bad bets cost the apartment building’s employees their pensions. It’s a plot right out of every Main Streeters’s fantasies about taking revenge on Wall Street corruption, and it’s played with wicked wit by a cast that also includes Michael Pena, Matthew Broderick, and Gabourey Sibide, all of whom have moments of high hilarity. But it’s the ace teamwork between Stiller and Murphy, who seem as lively and energized on-screen as they’ve been in years, that drives “Tower Heist” into a mindless bit of comedy fun.
