Tower Heist review

  Have you ever watched a film and just don't know what to think of it?

  It doesn't bring anything new to the table, nothing about it stands out, and it really doesn't do anything well.

  But at the same time, it doesn't do anything particularly wrong or horrible, and with more effort could have been a great movie.

  That's how I feel about Tower Heist.

  Directed by Brett Ratner (of Rush Hour fame) and starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy among a larger ensemble cast, Tower Heist's plot revolves around a group of ex-workers of an exclusive apartment building trying to steal back their money from their boss. A rather simple plot, but it does get the job done.

  You know how in most heist films there is a lot of build-up to the actual robbery, but when the robbery finally happens, it's the best part of the film and you forgive the rather slow build-up because the thing they were building up to was awesome?

  That doesn't happen here.

  There is a lot of build-up, but the pay-off is rather underwhelming. Nothing exciting happens in the robbery, it is kind of a "been there, done that" vibe I got from watching this film.

  I've seen this kind of stuff done in the Ocean's Eleven trilogy, and it was done a lot better with a better cast.

  That isn't to say this film had a bad cast of characters. All the actors were good, the interactions were good, joke delivery was good, and overall it was a great cast of actors for a likeable cast of characters.

  The problem is these characters weren't written well. The jokes in this film are hit-and-miss most of the time, leaning more towards the "miss" section.

  That is what my biggest problem with this movie is. It has a fantastic cast that works off each other quite well, but is dragged down by an average script and a boring robbery scene.

  When your heist movie has a boring robbery scene and the build-up isn't all that engrossing, you have a bad heist film. Maybe it is just because I am not a big fan of Brett Ratner's work (I thought the Rush Hour films were average and I hate X-Men: The Last Stand with a fiery passion), but I expect a lot out of my heist films.

  Especially after films like the Ocean's Eleven trilogy and Heat.

  I knew the time would come where I would review my first bad movie for this paper, but I honestly didn't want this movie to be the one.

  Just give this film a pass, it isn't worth your money.