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This film is about a group of employees in a luxury apartment building who tries to take back what a rich financial guru in their building took from them.

"Tower Heist" tells a bunch of dedicate and hardworking people who lost their pensions because the financial guru lost all their money in a fraud. The subsequent heist may be funny and implausible, but the film is certainly watchable. Describing the greedy and unscrupulous behaviour of some people in the finance sector surely brings back memories of the financial collapse a few years ago. Getting revenge from them is likely to strike some heartstrings among the public. The action scenes include a rather cool elevator shaft scene, and a very scary scene involving aerial action which made me on edge throughout. "Tower Heist" is like a modern day Robin Hood story, with a heartwarming ending. I enjoyed it a lot.

Tower Heist is Ben Stiller's latest comedy where he plays the building manager of a New York high rise tower block. He regrettably invests him and his staff's pension money with a smooth-talking crook who lives in the top floor penthouse. Naturally, the crook wastes their money and they're left without a cent.

Therefore, Ben and a few other disgruntled employees, enlist the help of small time crook Eddie Murphy to break into the penthouse and steal back their money.

It's a decent enough premise and, again, all the cast to a decent enough job. There you have it - it's a decent film. Not quite funny enough to be a comedy through and through. Not quite dramatic enough to be a straight drama. It even throws in a bit of a high speed car chase into the mix to add an element of 'action' into the genre.

It's a bit of a mixed bag. If you go into it without any expectations, you should find it an okay watch.

Not great, but not bad either. Fans of Stiller and Murphy should find extra things to enjoy about it.

Josh Kovaks (Ben Stiller) is the perfect employee. Managing a high end apartment skyscraper in New York, his team look after and cater for all the foibles of their rich charges.

Living in the penthouse suite with a rooftop swimming pool emblazoned with a Dollar Bill mosaic is Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), a wealthy financier with Steve McQueen's Ferrari in his living room.

How did it get up there, they took it apart and moved it piece by piece, subtle this is not.

Josh plays online chess with Arthur, likes him and entrusts the employees pension fund to him to "double their money", unbeknown to his work colleagues.

With a story ripped from recent headlines, Shaw is soon in trouble with the FBI, notably pretty detective (Tea Leoni). Subsequently, the employees are left searching for their lost pension funds turning the movie into a "let's get even" escapade.

Josh is largely loyal but when rattled he can and does takes matters into his own hands, vintage car aficionados should look away.

Following subsequent events, we are left with a larcenous but incompetent gang of six. Likable and nominally in charge Josh, Charlie (Casey Affleck) who is not much good at anything but has a pregnant wife and extreme motivation. New boy Enrique (Michael Pena) who is not the brightest bulb, Slick (Eddie Murphy) supposed criminal mastermind but none of the above. Odessa, a chambermaid with a bizarre Jamaican accent and a handy sideline in safe-cracking (Gabourey Siibe) and lastly, Mr Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), depressed, straitlaced, crumpled ex-banker and ex-apartment owner.

We are all set for a decent farce with elements of drama, however the movie is set for fun and mostly delivers.

This a rare Hollywood comedy that is actually funny. Whether the group are planning their heist using Lego, getting distracted with Female Sexuality issues or breaking off mid heist to walk a residents pet dog.

Overall of course it's all very silly and preposterous but it is good to see Eddie Murphy funny again, his sequence with Odessa, as she teaches him the in's and out's of safe-cracking is well done. Stiller largely plays the straight-man, allowing the others to bounce their comedic lines off him. Matthew Broderick is perhaps the standout, managing to make Mr Fitzhugh both sad and funny at the same time, Broderick's comedic timing used to great effect.

It is good to see Judd Hirsch on the big screen, getting a few good scenes as the overall building boss. Alan Alda also lifts the film with his considerable talents bought to bear on the smarmy Mr Shaw.

Like any comedy caper, the tone needs to be right and the project is very much a light soufflé but Director Brett Ratner manages to pull off the various elements, to make this a fun night in.

Summary

That rare event, a Hollywood comedy that manages to both entertain and provide a light sprinkling of social commentary.

The film is largely designed to be a crowd pleaser and largely fulfils that role admirably http://julesmoviereviews.blogspot.co.nz/

It's a magnificent comedy movie that picks up right after 25 minutes of the start. Both actors including Ben Stiller were excellent and the movie was amazing through out. Crime + Comedy + 2 great actors is definitely gonna be the thing you're looking for.

Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Judd Hirsch, Tea Leoni, Stephen Henderson, and Gabourey Sidibe star in "Tower Heist" from 2011.

It's a caper movie, and it's a light and fun one. Stiller as Josh Kovaks manages an exclusive apartment building, The Tower (like Trump Towers). He finds out that he and the other employees have fallen victim to a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by a tenant, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). After Josh nearly destroys the incredibly expensive car that Shaw has on display in his apartment, he and everyone else are fired.

Determined to take Shaw down, they learn that he kept about $20 million mad money and decide it's in his safe. They decide to rob him. Kovaks recruits a thief he knows, Slide (Eddie Murphy) to help. Meanwhile, the FBI, in the person of Tea Leoni, has arrested Shaw but it looks as if they might have to drop the charges.

Caper movies seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but there's always room for one more good one. The cast here is super talented and while it's not the most original script, there are some fun things in it.

Matthew Broderick, Gabourey Sidibe, and Eddie Murphy are especially funny. It's a shame Eddie Murphy's career took a nose dive; he's no less talented than he used to be.

With the Macy's Day Parade, particularly Snoopy in the background, Matthew Broderick hanging by a rope, Gabourey Sidibe running her trolley into a guard and knocking him out, you'll have a good time. Just don't expect Citizen Kane.