Tower Heist

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy star in this routine heist film from director Brett Ratner. It has a strong start and a real dud finish. Stiller plays the manager of a building where one of its inhabitants, a Madoff-like rich investor skunk (Alan Alda), has stolen his pension, and the pensions of all his fellow employees. Stiller conspires with a group that includes a funny Michael Pena, Matthew Broderick and Murphy to steal their money back from Alda’s penthouse apartment. While it’s cool to see Murphy in a streetwise role, he overdoes it just a little bit. And the final heist gets way out of hand. Pairing Murphy and Stiller in a movie was a good idea. Making their vehicle so run-of-the-mill was not.