Tower Heist (12A) ***

Tower Heist (12A) ***


Dir: Brett Ratner


Starring: Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick,


Synopsis: When Wall Street mogul Arthur Shaw is accused of fraud, the staff at the high end apartment block in New York where he lives decide to get back the pensions they had invested with him - by hiring a thief and pulling robbing him.


Verdict: Tower Heist is one of those rare comedy films that surprisingly, and happily, both lives up to the trailer while not showing off all the funniest moments in it.

One thing that helps this be a brilliantly funny film is the cast. Ben Stiller plays Josh Kovacs, the building manager of The Tower (the less than imaginatively named building behind the name of the film) and mastermind behind the heist. He succeeds in creating a serious persona for the character, right up until the point where he discovers all of his money is gone and we get to see the crazy, comical side that is determined to get his own back.

The other main comedy player is, of course, Eddie Murphy. He plays Slide, the small time thief and all-round bad egg who is tempted to make it big when a $20million carrot is dangled in front of his face. Murphy indeed lives up to his status as a hysterically funny actor, producing by far the most laughs in the film through his energy, expressions and his voice.

The story behind the actors is also very good, both for the fact that it is well written with some twists and turns of the predictable, and the not-so predictable kind (sort of like The Fast and the Furious, but with more laughs), but also with the incorporation of the humour that makes this film such good fun.