Tower Heist: Delivers the Comedy Goods

Tower Heist is a movie that does the impossible. It’s a broad comedy that actually delivers on the promise of the preview. I wanted to see it ever since I saw the two minute trailer, but scratching in the back of my mind was the fear that those two minutes were going to be the only things worth watching. Thankfully, my fears went unrealized. This movie is great. Perfect, in fact. I cannot think of a single thing wrong with this film. Even Eddie Murphy, who can really REALLY bring the annoyingness to a tumultuous crescendo, actually worked well in his role among the rest of the ensemble cast—as did Stiller.

The film begins with a juxtaposition of mornings. Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) brews himself a fancy cup of coffee in his nice New York apartment while listening to a radio talk show about wine and cheese pairings. Meanwhile, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) starts his day by toweling off from a pre-dawn swim in his rooftop swimming pool. He rides the elevator down to his flush penthouse apartment and listens to a stock market news program and responds with his next move in a game of online chess that he’s playing with Kovacs. Kovacs leaves his apartment, presumably for work; and Shaw heads to the elevator of his building, presumably leaving for work as well. Kovacs meets Shaw out front of his building and suggests the wine and cheese pairing he had heard on the radio for a party Shaw is going to throw while he opens the door of a waiting car for him. And there it is. Both men are meticulous, good at what they do, and yet Kovacs serves while Shaw is served.

As the day progresses, we learn that Kovacs is the building manager for the most prestigious apartment high-rise in New York. The tenants pay top dollar to be treated like royalty, and Kovacs makes sure it happens. But things falter when Kovacs finds out that Shaw is under investigation for losing millions in investor funds—Kovacs made sure to invest the employees’ pension with Shaw because Shaw was the best. And when Kovacs finds out that Shaw did it intentionally in order to defraud his clients, he loses it and trashes Shaw’s prized possession (Steve McQueen’s car) and is fired. At rock bottom, the idea for the heist is born. Kovacs is going to steal back what Shaw stole from the Tower’s pension fund. The heist team consists of Kovacs, his career criminal neighbor Slide (Eddie Murphy), Kovac’s edgy brother-in-law Charlie (Casey Affleck), the recently evicted penniless investment banker Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), and Enrique Dev’Reaux (Michael Pena), who was busted back to working in fast food after he was fired from the tower. The team brings the very big and sassy Jamaican maid Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe) on board when they realize that her father was the best locksmith in Kingston and she is the only one they know who can crack a safe.

Now the above two paragraphs describe only a tiny fraction of things—a little character and plot—just enough to get oriented. There’s so much detail involved that it’s hard to get it all down. But let’s focus on the comedy for a minute, there’s a great moment where the concierge Charlie nervously approaches Kovac. He explains that his pregnant wife (Kovac’s sister) has a really tight vagina and this fact makes him worry about the birth. It is quite clear that Kovac is seriously uncomfortable with this topic, but Charlie is too on edge about it to notice. Then Charlie takes great pride in giving Mrs. Jin (Marilyn Kim) flowers and a greeting in Mandarin on Chinese New Year only to find out later that she’s Korean. And of course Broderick puts his physical comedy skills to work when he, as the mild-mannered Mr. Fitzhugh, over-excitedly holds a gun on someone. He gets way too into it and starts calling the person a bitch in an attempt to display his hardened street side. And these are just a few of the great moments that stem from the interaction between these characters. You can tell that the writers provided excellent material so that the actors could really catch the funny.

This movie excels in plot, character, ensemble chemistry, comedic timing, fresh dialog, suspense, and even a little action to boot. And the heist is interesting too. They managed to throw in everything, including the kitchen sink, and make it all work. Can you say “elbow grease”? I imagine that the character bios alone would rival the length of a Harry Potter novel. Also, the intricate webbing between the comedic bits and the details of the heist tie in to the specific aspects of each of the characters flawlessly.

There were five credited writers on this film, and I looked them up. They each have a decent body of work behind them. So pairing them up together was like calling in a mighty morphin power ranger brain trust.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the writers got together and thought this one up.

I will be watching this one again. For laughs, definitely—but also for pointers.