Tower Heist: NR #10

It's been a while but after a month or two, a SPOOKtacular month of horror, I've returned to the theater to see a somewhat anticipated movie that has had a long history. It started out as an idea from Eddie Murphy from 2005 as a heist movie with an all-star comedic black cast with the likes of Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, Tracy Morgan, and Murphy himself. But after the Hollywood producers got a hold of it, they replaced the comedic geniuses with some white guys. After it was finally announced to release, Universal was planning on putting this movie on demand three weeks after it was released in theaters...for $60. One boycott later and we get to where we are now with...

Let's Begin....

PLOT

Ben Stiller works as the manger of an expensive hotel in New York, but after their boss is arrested for security fraud, it's soon found out that their boss had invested all of the employees money and that money has been lost. Now Stiller, Kasey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick plan to rob the hotel. But they're stupid, so they someone who is just as stupid, but knows how to steal, so they bring Eddie Murphy along. Now begins the heist. (I really have no idea how to write this plot, I saw this a couple of hours ago and I'm already forgetting it.)

PROS

 Um....It wasn't as bad as I thought is was going to be...and that's about it...moving on...

CONS

No one, and I mean NO ONE, from the main cast is funny. Ben Stiller doesn't have a single funny line, Kasey Affleck is just forgettable, and Alan Alda has one maybe two funny lines. The only funny people in the movie are Matthew Broderick and Gabourey Sidibe (AKA Precious) and they are SO under used.

Speaking of not being funny, Eddie Murphy has maybe three good lines in the whole movie. He just seems like he was told "Be funny." Eddie:What do I say? 

                                          Director: JUST BE FUNNY!!!!

I feel like he was thrown in there to keep something from the original idea.

The movie moves a little too fast. What I mean is that they spend 10-15 minutes coming up with the heist, then they just move onto actually doing the heist and we have no idea what they are doing or how. So when ever they're doing something, we don't why. It feels like they're coming up with it as they go along.

I hate to keep going back to Eddie, but his character is so poorly used. He starts out as a good guy, changes alliances in a heart beat, then changes back FOR NO REASON! It makes no sense.

The big action set piece has no tension. The reason being that we have no connection to these characters, which could have happened if they had a spent maybe 10 more minutes on the "Making the heist" scenes. The only times I felt tense was when ever they showed what it looked like from that high up, only because I have a fear of heights.

There are some sub-plots that go no where. One in particular is a forced romance between Ben Stiller and the FBI agent Tea Leoni. It goes no where it just seems like filler.

Speaking of filler, this movie has too much filler, or un-needed scenes that are there just to increase the running time. One example is during the big ending set piece, they get a dog in the mix and you think "Ok that, was weird", the you think "Oh, that'll create tension!", finally "....well that was a waste."

CONCLUSION

This may seem like I hate the movie. Well at first I didn't. But after thinking about it and looking over this review, I do. Now if this looks funny to you, I say see it, just wait 'till DVD.

RATING

ME: RUN AWAY

YOU, IF IT LOOKS FUNNY: RENTABLE