Tower Heist

I don’t recommend comedies, because we all laugh at different things. But I will bring to your attention a comedy that we enjoyed, when we hadn’t really expected to. It’s called Tower Heist. It’s very much in the style of Donald E. Westlake’s Dortmunder stories, and for the first 3/4ths I had a real good time. It’s obviously inspired by Bernie Madoff. Alan Alda plays a financier who has been ripping off everyone in sight for years, and now is under house arrest in the penthouse of the most expensive apartment tower in New York. One of the things he’s stolen is the pension fund of all the tower employees, and some of them decide to rip him off to get even. It’s full of Westlake plot twists, and touches like having the heist happen during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. It stars Ben Stiller, who is erratic but damn good in the right part, and Eddie Murphy, looking like he did back when he knew how to be funny. Plus Judd Hirsch and Tea Leoni, who I have been in love with since Flirting With Disaster. It gets fairly ridiculous toward the end, but even there I found some laughs, even though I didn’t believe it.