This heist comedy, directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour series, X-Men: The Last Stand), sees Ben Stiller playing Josh Kovacs, a building manager who oversees multi-billionaire Arthur Shaw's (Alan Alda) mansion. One day, Shaw is charged with fraud; Josh had invested all his and his staff's pension money in the scam.
The charge against Shaw is on the brink of being dropped, as the FBI cannot find the lost money to make the allegation stick. But Josh thinks he knows where it is. To rectify his own mistake, he decides to plot a heist-style robbery to steal the cash back and return it to the staff.
Tower Heist ticks all the boxes to be an entertaining weekend time-killer. It has a well thought-out storyline and some light-hearted humour. The movie does a good job burying punchlines subtly in the dialogue. When the punchline strikes, it isn't of the "try-hard" variety, distracting you completely from the brilliant heist plan and action.
Stiller deserves a lot of credit. Unlike other comedy-defined actors like Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, he can always find the balance between being a hero and a likable clown. He did it once in Tropic Thunder; he pulls it off again in Tower Heist. It is this versatility that prevents the movie from falling into the black hole of a just-another-heist-flick or scary-movie-ish parody.
YP Rating: 3/5