3.5 out of 5 stars
Two days prior to the release of Universal Pictures’ newest film, Tower Heist, N.C. State students were treated to a free advanced screening.
Boasting a slick trailer and an interesting premise, Tower Heist stars lead comedians Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller. Slated as a return to form for Murphy after a series of disappointing comedies, Murphy brings back his hilarious racy side for a new generation.
Thanks to a strong performance from Murphy and an overall excellent cast, Tower Heist does not disappoint.
The opening act of the film moves along at a relatively slow pace with a mostly serious tone, but it provides ample set-up and character development for the main cast. Stiller plays the building manager at a luxury apartment called The Tower.
He regularly bumps into his contentious neighbor Slide, played by Murphy, who is thrown into jail early on in the film.
Right off the bat, Murphy is in full motion and high in energy, providing a great deal of the humor early on.
Things pick up pace once the plot and character motives are established. Alan Alda plays business tycoon Arthur Shaw, who is accused of stealing the pensions from all the workers at The Tower. The main cast members come together when Stiller’s character recruits a few other ex-employees in a plot to steal back the cash that was stolen from them.
Even before Murphy’s character is bailed out of jail and brought into the action, the supporting cast members provide a lot of the humor that makes Tower Heist enjoyable to watch.
Casey Affleck plays Stiller’s brother-in-law, while Matthew Broderick takes on the role of an evicted tenant of The Tower. Both characters manage to draw empathy from the audience as well as some subtle humor.
Michael Peña plays a former bellhop and provides a lot of strong scenes, especially when Murphy’s character is absent.
However, the real star of Tower Heist is Eddie Murphy himself, whose very presence energizes and drives the film.
Katherine Lampe, a sophomore in business administration, says that Murphy should have been given more screen time.
“This movie was definitely a comeback for Eddie Murphy,” Lampe said, “which is weird because the other characters were in the movie more than
