½ star (out of four)
In Tower Heist, Ben
Stiller plays Josh Kovacs, the manager of an upper crust New York apartment
building called The Tower whose employees’ pensions are collateral damage in a
Ponzi scheme that Josh invested in years earlier. The scheme’s mastermind is
Wall Street billionaire Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), a tenant of The Tower and
personal mentor to Josh. Devastated by the betrayal and feeling responsible for
the financial well being of his employees, Josh sets out to rob Shaw’s
apartment and seek vengeance on behalf of the working class.
This would-be feel-good premise is fatally flawed by the
film’s execution. Directed by Brett Ratner, who previously helmed the
illustrious Rush Hour Trilogy, and written
by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, Tower Heist features scene after scene of bad ideas that all
look terribly expensive. The movie is clearly trying to cash in on current
anti-Wall Street sentiments with a big budget action comedy and the result is
as off-putting as it is unfunny. This is a multi-million dollar product being
sold under the guise of blue-collar wish fulfillment, a hypocrisy produced by
and starring one-percenters.
I say this not to fan the flames of cinematic class warfare
but to reveal the absurdity of this bloated affair. How was it not obvious to
Mr. Ratner that the mere price tag of an extraneous (and uninspired, I might
add) car chase would undermine the moral of this supposed David and Goliath
story? His approach would have seemed out of touch had it been even half as
well executed as any of his Rush Hour
movies. That the film is a lazy, unimaginative mess makes it something of an
insult to its audience.
Even the stars of Tower Heist seem keenly aware of the turgid state of this production. Ben Stiller,
who has written, directed and starred in a number of very funny movies, must
have understood what a humorless disaster this script was. His performance
lacks his normal energy and commitment to character; at times he looks almost
regretful towards the whole thing. His costar Matthew Broderick, who plays a
bankrupt ex-broker and assistant to the heist, is even worse. He looks so bored
with the material you can almost see him planning out the rest of his day.
Then there is Eddie Murphy, who has a fairly minor role
despite his prominence in the film’s marketing. He plays Slide, a small time
thief who lives on Josh’s block. When time comes to get an expert to help with
the heist, Josh naturally bails the only black guy he knows out of jail. Slide
is a one-dimensional caricature and subject of several strangely dated race
jokes. He wears a do-rag, describes how a homie of his was shot in the face and
says the N-word exactly two and a half times for no comedically apparent
reason. There is no hint of irony or self-aware political incorrectness about
the character – just straight-up racist stereotype. Eddie Murphy’s appearance
here depresses me more than any of the myriad of duds he has starred in over
the last decade. If his performance gets any laughs, it is only because his
fast-talking shtick is vaguely reminiscent of a once beloved comedian.
Tower Heist is a
tired collection of genre clichés and half-baked ideas so insultingly bad that
you want vent your anger out on the kid working the concession stand as you
leave the theater. But don’t take it out on him. Tower Heist is not his fault. Believe it or not, as he stood
idly selling $6 buckets of popcorn he may have even been more bored during the
104 minutes it took to watch Tower Heist than you were.
- Steve Avigliano, 11/9/11
No comments:
Post a Comment