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Tower Heist

When wealthy businessman and resident of luxury apartment complex The Tower, Arthur Shaw is found out to be caught up in a scam involving most of the Towers work force pensions. Josh Kovacs the tower's building manager is the man responsible for his friends financial losses after asking Shaw to invest them into his own company, out of guilt and determination when Shaw refuses to take responsibility and Josh and several of his friends are fired they decide to get even with Shaw and attempt to rob $20 million which is hidden somewhere within his apartment. On Thanksgiving Kovacs and co move in on Shaw's luxury apartment determined to get revenge and all the employees money back though not without several hitches, including the thief and ex-con Slide and The Towers state of the art security, can they pull off the heist of 2011?

Ben Stiller takes the leading role (Josh Kovacs) and takes to it as usual with pacing and straight face comedy similar to his other past roles but depending who he plays off against it can be greatly amusing or falling far from. Casey Affleck (Charlie Gibbs) the panicky serious one who is against the heist from day one adds to the cast with his concerns and is over all the one who avoids the comedy of the film the most. Matthew Broderick, plays the bizarre previous tenant of the tower (Mr. Fitzhugh)and adds to the laughs with a fairly weird character for him and unlike other roles actually adds to the humor with his random comments and actually made me laugh a few times. Eddie Murphy (Slide) is the Ex-con Kovacs goes to for his expertise on robbery, though that may have been a mistake albeit in comedy while his character is quite adjustable the comedy from him feels a bit drab sometimes yet others seem rather well written but overall the lack of screen time puts him at a disadvantage. Michael Penna (Enrique Dev'Reaux) the Tower's former bell hop, gives the film it's odd ball character adding the laughs from sheer stupidity which is no bad thing in a comedy in all honesty and he makes more of an impact than previous films. Other mentionable characters are Alan Alda (Arthur Shaw) and Tea Leoni (Claire Denham) both committing to their roles and Tea especially contributing to the humor.

As far as comedy films go 2011 has been fairly empty instead it's been more heavy on the blockbusters and thrill rides of summer flicks, although some humor has made it through to the big screen and while Tower Heist isn't the best comedy to hit the cinemas this year it is a rather amusing crime-comedy. Considering some of it's cast haven't been in a relatively good comedy in some while it's an acceptable and amusing step back in the right direction, Stiller especially instead of relying on situation comedy he mixes up the palette by teaming up with Murphy and Broderick giving the trio themselves a chance to shine as their own unique and bizarre characters as well as play off against each other for laughs in the way they mix. While the story isn't exactly the best thing since sliced bread the focus is more on the characters themselves and their own stories and even going as far as throwing in some emotion in between the gags, as i said while Tower Heist isn't spectacular it's amusing enough for what it is and not bad in the fairly empty year of comedy films.

6  /  10

FIN.

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