Directed by Brett Ratner. Starring Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Téa Leoni, Michael Peña, Gabourey Sidibe 12A cert, gen release, 104 min
THE feature-length adaptation of the wildly popular trailer is finally upon us. And it’s a shocker. Who knew that Brett Ratner’s tremendous action-comedy could contain so many jokes not included in the original promo? What kind of Hollywood product, in this day and age, saves all the best lines for the actual movie?
In this and many other respects, Tower Heist– a caper picture bolstered by a constellation of stars that playfully pokes at the viewer with several key inquiries – is a welcome throwback to a bygone era.
Remember when Eddie Murphy was the most famous guy in the world? Do you remember why? Here, the actor’s potty-mouthed low-life – an instant Murphy classic – becomes a perfect foil for Ben Stiller’s unlikely criminal. The latter, the proud manager of one of Manhattan’s elite apartment blocks, learns that the building’s penthouse resident, a twinkly Alan Alda, has embezzled millions from savings accounts and unsuspecting investors.
Some of that money came from Stiller and his colleagues, who entrusted the villain with their own pension funds. It’s enough to drive the building’s beloved doorman – who is, once more with feeling, one week away from retirement – to attempt suicide.
An enraged Stiller resolves to act. But how? Even the ball-breaking lady FBI agent on the case (Téa Leoni) says that Alda will walk. Can a mismatched crew including Stiller’s hapless brother-in-law (Affleck), a Jamaican safe-cracking maid (Sidebe), a discredited financial whizz (Broderick), a former Burger King employee (Peña) and Eddie Murphy possibly stage a daring Robin Hood raid on the penthouse? And can they do it while the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade balloons bob along in the background?
We imagine that the business of the action comedy is the business of Hollywood, but the numbers suggest otherwise. The genre that defined the silent era hasn’t really been the same since the talkies brought a harder, realer edge to swashbuckling spectacle. Censoring busybodies, too, have always preferred straight-talking, straight-living heroes not given to frivolities.
The action comedy finally re-emerged among the big-shouldered, larger-than-life flicks of the 1980s but not for long. Somewhere between Beverly Hills Copsequels, public interest waned. Contemporary cinema's relentless pursuit of realist tropes didn't help. And crucially, action comedy is way harder than it looks. Scooch one millimetre too far in tone and Midnight Runbecomes The 51st State.
Trust Murphy and Broderick, another 1980s veteran, to make this Occupy Dame Street revenge fantasy sparkle. Broderick’s bankrupt banker is a marvel (“If you need me, I’ll be living in this box”) but a slick screenplay with a generous quotient of one-liners ensures that everybody involved emerges with flying colours.
Think big. Think ’80s. Think Tower.
