Posts
2011, 10-27; finalized on 11-18:
Review of film: “TOWER HEIST”
This 104-minute PG-13-rated film was directed by BRETT RATNER...
... The place is New York. The setting is a fancy apartment building generally catering to the “ritzy-snitsy” crowd. Mr. Simon (JUDD HIRSCH) is the general “overseer” of the place, and his right-hand man is the attentive manager, Josh Kovacs (BEN STILLER)...
... Probably the most famous man living in the building is financier Arthur Shaw (ALAN ALDA). He’s so rich, he’s had his favorite CAR (seemingly a red Ferrari) installed right INSIDE his huge penthouse-style apartment there...
... Due to the slumping economy & all, not everyone has been able to remain rich there. Ben at one stage has to confront Mr. Fitzhugh (MATTHEW BRODERICK), who’s way behind in his rent payments...
... Matthew speaks of the growing litany of troubles he’s suffered lately (apparently including a divorce & the like), & said, he simply DOESN’T HAVE the money due them...
... With despair, he even eventually says, “I’m thinking of becoming a male prostitute...”
... Shortly after we’re introduced to many of the main characters, the FBI swoops down on ALAN & accuses him of FRAUD, via the running of a “Ponzi” scheme of siphoning-off money from investors...
... If this reminds you of the BERNIE MADOFF scenario, you’re probably on the “right track” (just as surely as Alan’s character is on the “WRONG” one!)...
... Naturally, being very rich, he’s very well-“connected”, & his fancy lawyers are able to avoid his serving JAIL time by getting him bailed-out on “HOUSE” arrest while he awaits trial at his opulent home (with his apartment entrance guarded by some Fed employees)...
... Ben at one point gathers together various of the EMPLOYEES of the building & advises them that Alan was so well-known, the management there had arranged for him to invest their RETIREMENT funds thru him...
... One of Ben’s assistants, his brother-in-law Charlie (CASEY AFFLECK), is stunned to hear that it’s clear ALL their pension funds have obviously been LOST due to Alan’s mischief...
... A hotel maid named Odessa (GABOUREY SIDIBE, from the movie “PRECIOUS”) wonders about when they’ll be able to RECOVER the money they’d invested, & Ben makes clear that it’s obvious they’re part of a large group of people who will NEVER see any invested funds willingly returned by Alan...
... Ben is very upset at seeing the desperate situations his employees have been put in, & at one point “CONFRONTS” ALAN about what he’d done... That causes such a ruckus, he’s DISMISSED from employment there...
... Now even more angry at what Alan had perpetrated, Ben comes up with a plan to try to STEAL $ 20 million BACK from Alan for him & the ripped-off building employees, feeling he’s almost certainly got that amount HIDDEN AWAY somewhere in his apartment...
... He tries to convince certain of the remaining building employees to HELP him in his plans... Gabby & others say, they’ll JOIN him in his scheme...
... The “crux” of Ben’s plan is to utilize the “services” of a known career CRIMINAL by the name of Slide (EDDIE MURPHY)... He “thinks” of him because he’d often had “run-ins” with him as he’d walked thru the neighborhood...
... And, Ben’s especially “attuned” to him because he’d recently seen him ARRESTED on the street by cops... Feeling he could be convinced to HELP in his plans, Ben arranges for Eddie to be told his BAIL had been paid by an “unknown” benefactor waiting outside...
... Once free, after getting over his shock at Ben’s plan, Eddie keeps “RAGGING” on him as he discusses the overall plan with him & his main cohorts on a roof: Casey, Matthew, & Enrique Dev’Reaux (MICHAEL PEÑA)...
... Ben has surmised that Alan has a SAFE hidden in his apartment, & wants the guys to find & open that object to get the expected $ 20 million... On the roof, Eddie claims that he’ll show the guys a way to use a BOBBY PIN to break into the safe...
... Various of the guys (& especially Eddie) make fun of the way Ben has used LEGOS to construct a purportedly-accurate scale-model of Alan’s apartment where they’ll search for a safe in a WALL there...
... The Feds -- such as Special Agent Claire Denham (TÉA LEONI) – are always “WATCHING” Alan & his place, trying to get more “goods” on him & his schemes...
... So, Ben & his group need to find a way to get “AROUND” them in their efforts to get into Alan’s apartment...
... As part of their “casing” the joint, they go to a fancy restaurant across the street from the apartment building...
... Matthew & others fear they can’t even afford the cost of dining at the eatery-- but Eddie shows how he’s come up with a way to eat for FREE there...
... The guys run various “TEST” efforts concerning their plans to break into & then (hopefully) escape with the expected money from Alan’s apartment...
... A vital cog in their scheme is to schedule entering the building when a PARADE will be going on in the street next to the building...
... Ben & other plotters then make their WAY to the apartment building as the parade is starting-up...
... And, they utilize a special “rogue maid” effort by GABBY to get past the guard stationed outside Alan’s door...
... When they get into Alan’s place, he refuses to cooperate with them as to the location of any possibly-hidden funds, despite angry “THREATS” & actions from Ben...
... Alan at one point warns them, the real “problem” with their plan will be “GETTING AWAY” with anything...
... Will all the expected “gang” stay “WITH” the plan, or will one or more get “cold feet” & try to QUIT the group at some stage?...
... Will Ben & his crew find the expected safe in Alan’s place-- &, if so, will it CONTAIN the money they expect is hidden there?...
... Since the gang are amateurs at the game of conducting a robbery, what will they do when things start going “WRONG” & they are left “HANGING” (figuratively & literally)?....
... Is Ben’s caper going to SUCCEED in its intended goals?...
... This movie had comparatively heavy ADVERTISING before & after it opened. Oftentimes, that’s a TROUBLING “sign” that we were being shown virtually “ALL” the funny “bits” IN the ad, & there was thus going to be very little actually “TO” the film...
... Fortunately, that was NOT the case: there’s LOTS to the movie that you’ll find “NEW” & enjoyable... It’s NOT the “silly” comedy that so many purported humorous movies are nowadays...
... There are a bunch of CLEVER & funny little “BITS” to the film, with periodic “TWISTS & turns” to the plot...
... I was surprised at how the robbery “caper” element to the film was NOT a small “tack-on” fragment: it was a fairly LENGTHY piece where there’s lots of PLANNING & EXECUTION shown...
... The acting is surprisingly GOOD, with the actors staying “in character”. If there’s one “weak” element, it’s the frequently-“shifting” Jamaican ACCENT used by Gabby; but it’s minor, in that her role-playing itself is robust...
... So, what I feared would be a “throwaway” comedy turned out to be EFFECTIVE & FUN to watch. Accordingly, I’m rating it as 7.75 out of 10 stars...
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