Tower Heist

A heist movie where the audience gets robbed. Usually when you mix a high concept with a big time cast and director, the results fail to make good on the promise of the trailer. "Tower Heist" doesn't disappoint in that respect but it does in everything else.

Directed by Brett Ratner and starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda, you would expect action and laughs but end up with a sluggish first act and only a moderately entertaining second act. The film takes forever to get going and finally shows some life once Eddie Murphy starts getting more screen time. Credit Mr. Broderick for providing some good laughs as the mousey analyst and to Mr. Alda playing against type as the smug, billionaire villain. Mr. Stiller, on the other hand brings nothing new as the Tower manager who decides to rob Mr. Alda for the good of the building staff.

The highpoint of the robbery towards the end is fun but the film is so badly edited, it appears that chunks of scenes have been omitted, ruining the continuity and taking the heart out of the story. The film ends up as disposable entertainment, quickly forgotten once it ends.