‘Tower Heist’ Review: Subtly Smart Skyscraper Caper

With Occupy Wall Street fresh in our minds, Tower Heist couldn’t have opened at a better time. Set in the world of the elite 1%, the film centers around the 99% and what happens when they get angry and start looking for revenge. The movie’s director Brett Ratner (the Rush Hour trilogy) also manages to deftly weave in some social commentary amidst the comedy with help from an ensemble cast of actors who seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The film begins with a close up of a hundred dollar bill. The camera pans out, and it is revealed to be the design on the bottom of a pool perched on top of a high-rise building. It’s a fitting start to a movie that’s all about money – either losing it, spending it, hiding it, or stealing it. The pool belongs to a Madoff-like billionaire, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), who lives in the luxurious penthouse suite “The Towers,” a fancy apartment building in Manhattan. The building is maintained by the hardworking general manager Josh Kovacks (Ben Stiller) and his team. When Arthur is arrested on fraud charges and sentenced to house arrest, Josh finds out that his staff’s pensions, which he gave to Arthur to “invest,” have disappeared.

Josh is understandably pissed off and wants to exact a little revenge. After Claire (Téa Leoni), the FBI agent in charge of the case, drunkenly admits that they were unable to recover Shaw’s safety net stash of $20 million, Josh decides to play Robin Hood and steal the money to give to his staff to make up for their lost pensions. He rounds up Charlie (Casey Affleck), the building’s inept concierge, Enrique (Michael Peña), the bellhop, and Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), a former Merrill Lynch employee who was recently evicted from the Tower, to be part of his ragtag circle of bandits. He rounds out the group with Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe), a smart-mouth maid and recruits small time criminal, Slide (Eddie Murphy), to teach them the basics of committing crimes.

Tower Heist | Poster Courtesy of Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

Ratner spends considerable time developing the average Joe-ness of his characters – they earn their paychecks by holding open doors for the residents, cleaning up after them and fetching whatever it is they need. They are the help, and they accept who they are. This works well in contrast against the almost obscene lavishness of Arthur Shaw. He may spend a lot of time in the building along with the rest of the staff, but they are worlds apart. Maybe Ratner used this contrast to elicit sympathy from the audience (it’s bad enough that Arthur stole from the rich, but he also took from the people who worked for him, and it’s this that makes the audience hate him even more), but it is also effective at showing the growing monetary gap separating people nowadays. While Arthur has enough money to buy Steve McQueen’s Ferrari, people like Charlie fret over whether or not they have enough money to raise their child. It also manages to touch upon the precariousness of our current existence – Mr. Fitzhugh, once a rich Merrill Lynch employee who jet sets around the world in a first class plane seat, fell from grace pretty quickly and is forced to live in a rundown motel.

The robbery itself is an Ocean’s 11-type affair, minus the competency of George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh’s sleekness. In fact, the whole thing requires the audience to suspend our disbelief at the sheer ridiculousness of the plan. None of the protagonists have ever even stolen $50, let alone $20 million (there is a rather amusing scene where Slide makes them steal $50 worth of merchandise in a mall to prove their worth as potential robbers). They are driven more by a sense of desperation rather than full out anger, and it is this that makes their antics more acceptable. They’re not doing it out of a zealous sense of wrath, running around like maniacs trying to avenge the injustice that has befallen them.

Ben Stiller, looking a little rough around the edges, is decent enough as the Good Guy (but with flaws!). We root for him even though what he’s doing is absolutely crazy. He has good chemistry with the rest of the cast, and they build up a good repertoire of lighthearted humor that lasts throughout the film. It’s also good to see Eddie Murphy in the flesh again instead of just hearing his voice as Donkey in Shrek. His fast-talking, almost manic aura serves him well here since his character has questionable mental health anyway. But perhaps the character with the best lines is Matthew Broderick – his deadpan delivery makes lines such as, “If you want to find me, I’ll be living in this box” and “I’m thinking of becoming a male prostitute” so much funnier because Mr. Fitzhugh probably thinks those are viable options in his situation.

Tower Heist is in essence a revenge tale involving ordinary people. True, they are ordinary people who try to pull off something absolutely ridiculous, but haven’t we all thought about settling the score with people who have wronged us? That’s what films are for – so we can indulge in a little escapism and live vicariously through the big screen.

Tower Heist is a funny, if far-fetched, revenge fantasy for us 99%-ers. Watch it for the subtle social commentary if not for the laughs: B

[On a separate note, Brett Ratner has been heard using homophobic slurs and saying inappropriate things about his sex life (read more about it here and here). He has since apologized for what he has said, but he really shouldn’t have said it in the first place. It is unfitting behavior, especially for someone who is going to be directing this year’s Academy Award show. Here’s a lesson in thinking before you speak, kids.]

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