Hard-hitting fun

COMEDY crime–capers are hit or miss but this one definitely hits … hard!

What I loved about Tower Heist is that although it is essentially a screw-ball comedy it still manages to be topical. I guarantee that if the Occupy Wall Street protestors could tear themselves away from Zuccotti Park, they would no doubt love to watch this movie.

The film revolves around a Wall Street mogul, Arthur Shaw (Alda), who manages to embezzle a great deal of money from investors and his hard-working employees.

He’s arrested by special agent Claire Denham and taken into custody, but the cunning criminal manages to get released on bail and, being the fat cat that he is, he’s placed under house-arrest in his glamorous penthouse ‘The Tower’.

Although this sounds like a stroke of luck for the deviant swindler, it isn’t. As well as stealing from the wealthy Wall Street elite, Shaw also ripped off the ‘average Joes’ working in The Tower. The term ‘gilded cage’ comes to mind.

Shaw was talked into handling their pension fund and when it went ‘walkies’ so did their financial security.

Among the many people Shaw has ripped off are Charlie (Affleck) – the concierge, Josh (Stiller) – the building manager and Mr Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick) a building resident who is now bankrupt and eager to join the heist.

The group deduces that the conman has stashed a sizeable sum of cash in his apartment and who is better placed to steal it than the people who work in the building?

Since they have no intention of letting Shaw get away with stealing their money, the group devises a plan to get justice for themselves. Sadly, they know that a big-wig like Shaw is going to stash the cash in his safe and since none of the group has any experience cracking one, they enlist the help of local criminal, Slide (Murphy).

The only thing left to do now is rob a constantly inhabited apartment which is under 24-hour guard by the FBI … piece of cake!

Does anyone else remember when Eddie Murphy was funny? Seriously, the guy stared in so many great 1980s movies and his Delirious stand-up comedy routine still makes me laugh even though I’ve seen it dozens of times.

Sadly, in recent years, Murphy’s career has nose-dived faster than a plane without an engine and frankly, it breaks my heart.

I had hoped that this movie would see the once great performer return to meteoric heights and it did … sort of. Yes, there were glimmers of the old Eddie I knew and loved but I just don’t think he was given enough screen-time to really shine.

Stiller on the other hand manages to stick to the same generic formula that brought him fame and doesn’t really deviate too much from what you’d expect from him. However, for me, what made this movie great was the performance from comedy veteran Alan Alda.

When I was growing up I loved M*A*S*H, a medical drama/black comedy set during the Korean War with Alda staring as Dr Hawkeye Pierce – a maudlin prankster who tried to see the funny side of a bad situation.

Although he has aged drastically since his 1970s heyday, his talent has not. He still knows his way around a joke better than I know my way around my own home and he had me in stitches consistently.

His performance is faultless and a testament to the fact you don’t need to be vulgar to be funny ... although it never hurts to throw in an innuendo. The movie has twists and red herrings galore and despite having a few plot holes, it still manages to work surprisingly well.

The only real criticism I have is that there are some unnecessary scenes that over-run and could have been better utilised expanding Murphy’s role. Any way you slice it, this crime-caper offers you a lot of laughs for your dinar!

Showing in Cineco, Seef II and Saar Cineplex