Tower Heist (2011)
Storyline
Josh Kovaks is the manager of a high-rise condominium in New York. He is close to all the tenants, especially financier Arthur Shaw. One day Shaw is arrested by the FBI for fraud. Josh thinks it's a misunderstanding that can be resolved, but later he learns that the employees' pension fund - which he asked Shaw to handle - is gone. When one of the employees tries to kill himself, Josh's views of Shaw change. He goes to see him and loses his temper, and his job. The FBI agent in charge tells him that Shaw might walk, and recovering the pension fund is unlikely. She tells him that it's been rumored that Shaw has $20 million lying around if he needs it in a hurry. Josh thinks he knows where it is, so with two other fired employees and an evicted tenant, they set out to get into Shaw's penthouse to get the money. But they realize they need the assistance of someone who knows how to steal, so Josh asks an old acquaintance named Slide who he knows is a thief to help them.
Plot
Josh Kovaks is the building manager of The Tower, a luxury apartment complex on Central Park West in New York City whose employees include concierge Charlie, who is expecting a child with Josh's sister; Enrique, a newly hired elevator operator; Lester, the doorman nearing retirement; Odessa, an immigrant maid from Jamaica; and receptionist Miss Iovenko, who is studying to become a lawyer.
One morning Josh sees Arthur Shaw, a wealthy businessman and Tower resident, being kidnapped. Josh gives chase, but is tackled by FBI agent Claire Denham, who explains that Shaw was not being kidnapped, but that he was attempting to flee the United States and escape arrest for running a Ponzi scheme, embezzling billions of dollars. Informing the Tower staff of Shaw's arrest, Josh confesses that he entrusted their pensions to Shaw to invest, and their money is now gone; having lost everything, Lester attempts to commit suicide by walking in front of a moving train, but survives and at a hospital, he laments to Josh about his blunder of entrusting Shaw with his cash. Josh, Charlie, and Enrique visit Shaw, who is under house arrest in his penthouse apartment, to inform him of Lester's actions. Shaw expresses condolences, but is insincere, and out of anger Josh smashes the windows of Shaw's 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso displayed in his apartment. The building's General Manager, Mr Simon, fires Josh for his actions, as well as Charlie and Enrique.
Josh meets Denham at a bar and she invites him to drink with her. Denham suggests that Shaw must have concealed some of the money as a safety net, and jokingly suggests that Josh steals it. Josh gathers Charlie, Enrique, and evicted Tower tenant Mr. Fitzhugh to draw up a plan to steal Shaw's money. When Charlie brings up the fact that they are not thieves, Josh enlists his neighbor and former childhood friend Slide, a petty criminal, to help. Slide trains the team but realizes he cannot complete the robbery because he does not know how to crack the safe in Shaw's apartment. They bring in Odessa, whose family ran a locksmith business. Later on, Charlie tells Josh he has been rehired as the Tower's new manager, and warns Josh to stay away or he will have him arrested. Denham then tells Josh that a hearing for Shaw has been scheduled for Thanksgiving during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to avoid publicity, and Shaw will go free. Josh and his team decide to break into Shaw's apartment during the parade.
Slide attempts to betray the team by reaching the safe first, having tricked Odessa into giving him lessons. However, the team manages to intercept him at Shaw's apartment, breaks down a false wall and finds Shaw's safe behind it; Odessa opens the safe but finds it empty. Slide and Fitzhugh struggle for Slide's gun; the gun goes off and a bullet hits the car, revealing gold underneath the Ferrari's paint. They realize Shaw invested his cash in gold, had the gold melted down and cast into car parts, and then assembled the car in his apartment where the gold would be hidden in plain sight. Josh finds a ledger of Shaw's illegal finances in the car's glove box. They use a window-washing platform to lower the car out of the window into Fitzhugh's old apartment six floors below, and then take it down to the lobby on top of an elevator. Just as they reach the lobby Agent Denham and Shaw return, the Thanksgiving court date being a ruse as part of the plan, and take the same elevator back up. Denham sees Shaw's safe and informs him that he did not declare the safe on an inventory of items taken when he was arrested, which is a violation of the conditions of his bail. She has him remanded back into custody.
Denham sees Lester using a stolen truck to try to escape from the building. She catches up to him, assuming he is fleeing with the Ferrari, but finds the truck empty. The FBI arrest him. A few moments later Josh and his crew (except Slide) is walking outside the Tower and are immediately arrested by the FBI. Claire personally handcuffs Josh and privately congratulates him. As Josh is being questioned by the FBI, Miss Iovenko arrives, telling the FBI that she passed her bar exam three days ago and is acting as Josh's attorney. She shows them Shaw's ledger and tells them she will turn it over in exchange for everyone's freedom. The FBI accepts on the condition that Josh, being the primary conspirator, must serve a minimal two-year sentence. Shaw is convicted and sentenced to time in prison.
The team retrieves the car from its hiding place in Shaw's rooftop pool and send various parts of the car to Tower employees to compensate for their lost pensions. As the movie ends Shaw begins his life sentence and Josh is booked into jail, a satisfied smile slowly forming on his face.
Cast
- Ben Stiller as Josh Kovaks
- The building manager. Stiller was paid $15 million for the role.
- Eddie Murphy as Slide
- A petty crook to whom Josh turns for help. Murphy joined the cast on October 13, 2010, and also became a producer on the film.[10] He was paid $7.5 million for his work.
- Casey Affleck as Charlie Gibbs
- The building concierge and Josh's brother-in-law. Affleck wanted to participate in the film as he was interested in playing a comedy role, saying "it sounded like a fun film to do. I wanted to do a comedy, and I thought this was an opportunity to try and be funny."Grazer felt that Affleck would be perfect for the role because of his deadpan timing.
- Alan Alda as Arthur Shaw
- A Wall Street billionaire placed under house arrest for stealing $2 billion. On his character, Alda said "Shaw is sometimes described as a Bernie Madoff-like character. I'm not sure. I don't think anyone has ever operated on the scale that Madoff did. And I don't know if what Shaw did technically qualifies as a Ponzi scheme. But in that Shaw was willing to steal money from people who really needed it – who really couldn't afford to lose it – and willing to take everything they had…yes, he's in Bernie territory, with both feet."Ratner initially approached Robert Redford to play the role, being a fan of his work in the heist film The Hot Rock, but Redford turned him down.
- Matthew Broderick as Mr. Fitzhugh
- A former Wall Street investor made bankrupt. Broderick joined the cast on October 26, 2010.
- Téa Leoni as Claire Denham
- An FBI special agent assigned to Shaw's case. Leoni joined the cast on October 21, 2010. Leoni worked with FBI technical advisor Anne C. Beagan to prepare for her role. On her character and work with Beagan, Leoni said: "Agent Denham is your standard-issue, ball-breaking FBI agent. She's certainly a very tough lady, and it's not my first waltz with this type of character. However, I was able to spend some time with Anne, a great technical advisor we had on set. She's got this steely gaze that is terrifying, but what's underneath that is a very interesting lady. Beyond the technical aspects of the job, she provided so much more for me to use."
- Michael Peña as Enrique Dev'reaux
- The elevator operator and the newest employee of the building staff. Peña was cast on October 19, 2010.
- Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa Montero
- A Jamaican-born maid threatened with deportation by Shaw's theft. To perform her character's Jamaican accent, Sidibe had three dialect coaches help her prepare and practiced with a friend of Jamaican heritage. Additionally, Sidibe worked with an actual safecracker to accurately portray breaking into locks.Sidibe was cast on October 19, 2010.
User Review
I was able to see one of the first screenings of Tower Heist last night. I went in just happy to see a free movie two weeks before its release, but at the same time I was not expecting this movie to be that funny. With that said, it was a lot better than I expected.
Eddie Murphy's character was an over-the-top funny type of guy and Ben Stiller had his moments of over-the-top humor too. The plot itself is obviously not that believable, but let's be honest, if you go into this movie expecting an "Italian Job-like" heist plot then you might as well not even go.
The supporting roles in this movie were really good and the film is filled with great one liners. There were a couple of lines that didn't really turn out as funny as the writer probably thought, but all that said it is worth the watch.
