Post by Power NeXus on Nov 29, 2011 22:19:18 GMT -5
This holiday comedy, starring Ben Stiller, Alan Alda, and Eddie Murphy, involves a small gang of angry recently-unemployed hotel workers attempting to get back at their former employer for cheating them out of their pension.
Acting
The acting in this movie was generally very good. With big names like Stiller and Murphy taking most of the available screen time, it would kinda have to be. I'll admit I was excited to see Alan Alda in a new role, but I really can't comment on his acting job. I'm a major fan of M*A*S*H (I've seen almost every episode at least twice by now), so every time he came on screen the only thing I could think was, "Holy crap, Hawkeye is OLD."
I'd say the only sub-par job I noticed was from Gabourey Sidibe. Her acting job was good enough, but her Jamaican accent was entirely unconvincing.
Plot
Generally, it is what you might expect from a modern-day Hollywood comedy caper. As cool as it was, there were a lot of moments that had me thinking, "Hahahaha!!..... but seriously, that wouldn't actually be possible..." However, these moments weren't so constant or over-the-top that they really took away from the movie very much. Everyone already knows a Stiller/Murphy comedy caper isn't a movie to be taken too seriously. The only people who will really dislike the little problems in the plot are the people who didn't know to check their brain at the door for this kind of movie.
The plot was also somewhat predictable, but that's to be expected. I don't think Hollywood really has anything new to show us anymore in terms of plot twists.
Comedy
Tower Heist was rather sucessful in it's primary objective. It made me laugh out loud several times. It's not truly legendary as a comedy, but it definitely had enough humor in it to keep me entertained the whole way through. A few parts got almost too crass for me, but not quite. The vast majority of audiences probably didn't care much about that though. I just don't like sexual innuendo jokes very much.
Additionally, I'd like to high-five Eddie Murphy for his role in this movie. This is the first time in a long time that I've seen him in a movie that's not a stupid slapstick kids flick.
7/10
Nothing stellar or particularly memorable (with the possible exception of Alan Alda), but genuinely funny and entertaining for one watch.