Tower Heist
The trajectory of the career of one Eddie Murphy has been an intriguing yet sad one. Bursting onto the screen in 1982 with 48 Hrs, Murphy quickly and definitively made himself into a cinema comedy legend while only in his early 20s, creating a streak throughout the 1980s that was as indelible as it was just flat out funny with Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop (1 and 2), Golden Child, Raw (still the highest grossing stand up comedy movie of all time), Coming To America and finally rounding it out with the anything goes, unfiltered black comedy at its finest, underrated classic Harlem Nights (which he also directed). Then the 90s came and something happened. Murphy somehow lost his mean streak, his ill tempered contempt for the fallacies of both goofy white people and his fellow blacks who failed to match his own wit or intelligence, a quality that had served him so well in the prime years of his career. Instead, he became immersed in a sea of badly conceived romantic comedies (Boomerang), abortive team up attempts with actors whom he had no chemistry with (Bowfinger) and worse, a seemingly never ending series of kids films where the emphasis apparently was either on extensive makeup and fat suits being worn by him or on overblown CGI (Nutty Professor films, Doctor Dolittle films, Haunted Mansion, Pluto Nash). Most if not all these efforts were released to little fanfare except for the indifferent acknowledgement that Murphy had just collected another paycheck to keep his career going even if it was accepted that the edginess and comedic bite that had once defined him was long gone. In 2011 Murphy would pitch an idea to the studios of doing an all black cast version of Oceanās Eleven on the premise that it would feature such luminaries as himself, Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock among others, only to see the project get taken out of his hands and rewritten. However, it was only through the involvement of director Brett Ratner (who has been said to have considered Murphy to be his hero based on his 80s work) and the casting in the lead role of Ben Stiller (someone still very much in his prime) that Murphy was persuaded to come back on board as other big names including Casey Affleck, Alan Alda and Matthew Broderick were also brought in. Stiller plays the building manager at a luxury high rise apartment complex where he oversees a large staff whose essential job is to cater to and pamper all of the residents who live within it along with the owner of the building (Alda) who lives in the top floor rooftop penthouse. Alda of course is not only a world famous billionaire but also takes great pains to come off to his staff as being the coolest rich guy in the world whom any ham and egger can have a conversation with and feel like they can relate to him as being just a regular guy. Then the bottom drops out. Alda is indicted for having run a Ponzi scheme for years, screwing people point blank out of their money in exchange for too good to be true investment strategies which apparently was something which he engaged in compulsively even if it involved draining the life savings out of someone whose net worth was but a fraction of his own. It also turns out that among Aldaās alleged victims were his very own staff working at his tower who have all been given the news that their pensions which they were depending on for retirement are now gone and in Aldaās greedy hands. After some words are exchanged, Stiller and a few others are fired from the building and itās there that Stiller (with his intimate knowledge of the buildingās structural layout and security systems) decides to plan a robbery of Aldaās penthouse at the top of the tower with his accomplices for starters being the other fired employees: the concierge (Affleck) whose wife is expecting their first child and the elevator operator (Michael Pena) who was only fired for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stiller also manages to bring in a recently evicted tenant (Broderick) who used to be a stockbroker before his life fell apart and who also possesses intricate knowledge of how the high end financial markets work (including knowing that Alda most likely saw the indictment coming a year to six months ahead of time and was already planning for it and lining up lawyers). Of this crew, the one standout performance is likely Broderick, playing a depressed money man fallen from grace with a bit of a Xanax twinge to him and getting more laughs from his understated line deliveries than anything else (unlike Pena who fails at being funny here no matter how hard he tries). Naturally, Stiller quickly realizes that none of them really have the stomach to pull off such a major crime and thatās where Murphy comes in, a childhood acquaintance of Stillerās who grew up to be a convicted felon and who now seems to be constantly in and out of jail for stealing. This brings in the fresh and interesting angle of having the Murphy character (a guy who has no connection to Alda and thus no motivation for revenge) essentially ātrainingā the white collar wanna be criminals into having a criminal mindset which includes not being afraid of stealing in and of itself (including having them shoplift at a mall as part of their training). It also introduces the element of having Murphy be the member of the team whom nobody can trust because at any time he might find a way to sabotage the plan and possibly walk away with the money all by himself. But Stiller has other fish in the fryer including a budding romance with the pretty FBI agent (Tea Leoni) who has busted Alda and thinks that Stiller as the (former) building manager might have some information that could be useful to the case. There is also the revelation that Alda will most likely buy his way out of jail and even have all of the charges against him dropped which only steps up Stillerās plan of attack including bringing in one of the maids played by Gabourey (Precious) Sidibe because it turns out that she is the only one who knows anything about cracking open a safe. It all boils down to the heist itself taking place during The Macyās Thanksgiving Day Parade as it happens outside on the street (the perfect distraction?) and the script constantly introducing new facets of Stillerās plan (including other āsurpriseā accomplices) that were never laid out or explained in the earlier parts of the movie (although admittedly the idea that with Stiller and the others banned from the building he knows that the best moment to sneak in is when the large Snoopy balloon passes by outside because thatās when most of the employees run outside to stare at Snoopy going by overhead in awe and delight was a moment that left this viewer tickled pink) plus there is the expected element of Murphy trying to go into business for himself by (knowing that he is NOT known by Aldaās people and thus not banned) walking into the building disguised in a suit and tie on the pretense of being a potential tenant and fooling the building GM (Judd Hirsch) into thinking that heās a rich man looking to buy a luxury apartment in order to get himself up to Aldaās penthouse before Stiller does is a bit that we could see being done by Axel Foley, but not necessarily by a petty criminal as Murphy is playing here who doesnāt really seem all that smart and resourceful to begin with due to his many stints in jail. We also get a very unseemly (and fake looking thanks to CGI) daredevil stunt moment with the Broderick character as well in which realism goes straight out the window. Watching Aldaās character might be the most fascinating thing though as he has all the social graces and people skills down enough to convince everybody (especially Stiller) that heās a really good guy deep down when really heās a high level sociopath who shamelessly steals from clock punchers and others who are way beneath him on the tax brackets (only Leoniās FBI agent sees him for the devil that he really is which is an advantage for Stiller in his plans to bring him down). The haphazard scripting and muddled ending hurt the film quite a bit but as for Murphy? Spouting off more profanity than anyone else in the movie but still avoiding his beloved F word in order to maintain the PG-13 rating, he brings a shot of life into the film when heās introduced 40 minutes in and the wild card aspect of his character certainly makes him interesting, but overall this still remains a far cry from his younger days when his name on the marquee would guarantee big laughs and even bigger revenueā¦
7/10