Tower Heist

Plot

When a group of hard working guys find out they've fallen victim to a wealthy business man's Ponzi scheme, they conspire to rob his high-rise residence.

Release Year: 2011

Rating: 6.3/10 (23,882 voted)

Critic's Score: 59/100

Director:
Brett Ratner

Stars: Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck

Storyline
Josh Kovacs is the manager of a residential apartment in New York. He is close to all the tenants, especially Arthur Shaw, a financier. 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 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. He loses his job. The FBI agent in charge of Shaw 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 laying around if he needs. Josh thinks he knows where it is. So with two other employees who also lost their jobs and an evicted tenant, they set out to get into Shaw's penthouse to get the money. But they realise they need the assistance of someone who knows what they are doing…

Writers: Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson

Cast:

Ben Stiller
–

Josh Kovacs

Eddie Murphy
–

Slide

Casey Affleck
–

Charlie

Alan Alda
–

Arthur Shaw

Matthew Broderick
–

Mr. Fitzhugh

Stephen Henderson
–

Lester

(as Stephen McKinley Henderson)

Judd Hirsch
–

Mr. Simon

Téa Leoni
–

Special Agent Claire Denham

Michael Peña
–

Enrique Dev’Reaux

Gabourey Sidibe
–

Odessa

Nina Arianda
–

Miss Iovenko

Marcia Jean Kurtz
–

Rose

Juan Carlos Hernández
–

Manuel

Harry O'Reilly
–

Special Agent Danszk

Peter Van Wagner
–

Marty Klein, Esq.

Taglines:
Ordinary guys. An extraordinary robbery.

Details

Official Website:
Official site [France] |
Official site [Japan] |

Release Date: 4 November 2011

Filming Locations: Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $75,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $24,025,190
(USA)
(6 November 2011)
(3367 Screens)

Gross: $78,009,155
(USA)
(29 January 2012)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

The only improvised scene is when Odessa instructs Slide how to crack a safe in a very suggestive manner.

Goofs:

Factual errors:
The film takes place in November (we see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade), yet Charlie is seen giving Mrs. Jin flowers for Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year takes place in January, not November.

Quotes:

[from trailer]

Slide:
Today I teach you how to pick a lock with a bobby pin! Here's your bobby pin, here's your bobby pin, and here's your punk-ass bobby pin! You unlock the door, or you gonna freeze to death! I'm gonna be inside having sex wih Rita!

Cole Howard:
Who's Rita?

User Review

Better Than I Expected

Rating: 8/10


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.