Tower Heist (DVD)

Tower Heist is a 2011 American heist comedy film directed by Brett Ratner, written by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, based on a story by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper and Griffin and starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Judd Hirsch, Téa Leoni, Michael Peña, and Gabourey Sidibe. The plot follows employees of an exclusive apartment building who lose their pensions in the Ponzi scheme of a Wall Street businessman and enlist the aid of a criminal, a bankrupt businessman, and an immigrant maid to break into his apartment and steal back their money while avoiding the FBI agents in charge of his case.

Tower Heist began development as early as 2005, based on an idea by Murphy that would star him and an all-black cast of comedians as a heist group who rob Trump International Hotel and Tower. As the script developed and changed into an Ocean s Eleven–style caper, Murphy left the project. Ratner continued to develop the idea into what would eventually become Tower Heist, with Murphy later rejoining the production. Filming took place entirely in New York City on a budget of $75 million (after tax rebates), with several buildings provided by Donald Trump used to represent the eponymous tower. The film s soundtrack album and musical score was composed by Christophe Beck and produced by Jake Monaco and was released on November 1, 2011, by Varèse Sarabande, Back Lot Music and Colosseum Records.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise going to the cast, including Broderick, Leoni, and Stiller. Murphy s performance was repeatedly singled out, with critics feeling that he displayed a welcome return to the comedic style of his early career. Much of the criticism was focused on the plot, which was considered formulaic , rushed , dull and laborious . The film was theatrically released on November 4, 2011, in the United States by Universal Pictures where it earned $152.9 million worldwide on a budget of $75–85 million.

Prior to release, the film was involved in a controversy over plans by Universal Pictures to release it for home viewing on video on demand to 500,000 Comcast customers, only three weeks after its theatrical debut. Concern over the implementation s harming ticket sales and inspiring further films to follow suit resulted in several theater chains refusal to show the film at all if the plan went ahead, forcing Universal to abandon the idea.

This was one of Heavy D s final roles before he died.

Plot

Josh Kovaks is the building manager of The Tower, an upscale apartment complex in New York City that has Wall Street billionaire Arthur Shaw as its penthouse tenant. The Tower staff lose all their pensions because Josh gave them to Shaw, who is under house arrest by the FBI for masterminding a Ponzi scheme, embezzling up to $2 billion. Josh, his brother-in-law and The Tower s concierge Charlie, and elevator operator Enrique are fired after attempting to confront Shaw for his scheme.

The FBI agent in charge of Shaw s case, Claire Denham, drunkenly suggests to Josh that Shaw has concealed $20 million as a reserve, and that he should steal it. Josh gets Charlie, Enrique, and evicted Tower tenant Mr. Fitzhugh to help him steal the money.

They supplement their inexperience by enlisting Josh s childhood friend Slide, a petty criminal, and the tower s maid Odessa Montero, who has locksmith experience. Denham informs Josh that Shaw is scheduled to attend court on Thanksgiving during the Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parade to avoid publicity, so Josh and his team decide to break into Shaw s apartment then. Prior to this, Charlie is rehired as The Tower s new manager, and, uncomfortable with the plan, warns Josh to abandon it, or Charlie will turn him over to the police.

Slide attempts to betray the team by reaching the safe ahead of them and taking all of the money for himself, having tricked Odessa into giving him lessons. The team intercepts him at Shaw s apartment and break down a false wall, revealing Shaw s safe, which turns out to be empty. During the ensuing altercation, the group find gold underneath the paint of a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso which Shaw has displayed in his apartment, realizing that he invested his money in gold, turned it into car parts, and reassembled the car inside the apartment piece by piece to hide the money in plain sight, which, according to Fitzhugh, is worth about $45 million (give or take $10 million) in total. They then decide to lower it to Fitzhugh s old apartment using a window-washing platform. Charlie rejoins the team after realizing their presence and saves Fitzhugh from falling to his death. They push the car on top of one of the elevators, and Josh finds a ledger of Shaw s illegal finances in the car s glove box.

Shaw and the FBI return, realizing the Thanksgiving Day court date to be part of Josh s plan. Denham notes the missing car and Shaw s hidden safe and forfeits his $10 million bail and remands him into federal custody until his real court date for not informing the FBI of the safe. The FBI arrests Josh s conspirators (except Slide, who somehow manages to slip away) while Denham catches up to Josh in Central Park. In the paddy wagon, Josh reveals to Shaw that he found the ledger. Shaw tries to negotiate a deal with them by giving them cash ten times the value of the gold car in exchange for their silence. They decline Shaw s bribe by reminding him they don t accept tips at The Tower.

At FBI HQ, Director Mazin and Denham mention to Josh that they know about his friendship with Slide. Tower receptionist Miss Iovenko tells Director Mazin that she passed her bar exam three days before and will be Josh s attorney. She shows them Shaw s ledger with evidence that will put him away for life, and tells them she will turn it over in exchange for everyone s freedom. Mazin accepts on the condition that Josh serve a minimal two-year sentence for masterminding the heist.

A news report states that Shaw will enter a guilty plea. Slide leads the retrieval of the car from the Tower s swimming pool. Its various dismantled parts are sent to Tower employees to compensate for their lost pensions while splitting the remainder of the gold among themselves. While Shaw begins his life sentence, Josh enters his cell with a satisfied smile slowly forming on his face.

Cast

• Ben Stiller as Josh Kovaks, The Tower s building manager. Stiller was paid $15 million for the role.
• Eddie Murphy as Darnell Slide Davis, a petty crook and Josh s childhood friend whom Josh turns to for help. Murphy joined the cast on October 13, 2010, and became a producer on the film. He was paid $7.5 million for his work.
• Casey Affleck as Charlie Gibbs, The Tower s concierge and Josh s brother-in-law. Affleck wanted to participate in the film as he was interested in playing a comedy role, saying it sounded like a fun film to do. I wanted to do a comedy, and I thought this was an opportunity to try and be funny. Grazer felt that Affleck would be perfect for the role because of his deadpan timing.
• Alan Alda as Arthur Shaw, a Wall Street billionaire living at The Tower who was placed under house arrest for embezzling $2 billion and trying to flee the city with help from some men. On his character, Alda said Shaw is sometimes described as a Bernie Madoff like character. I don t think anyone has ever operated on the scale that Madoff did. And I don t know if what Shaw did technically qualifies as a Ponzi scheme. Shaw was willing to steal money from people who really needed it – who couldn t afford to lose it – and was willing to take everything they had ... yes, he s in Bernie territory, with both feet. Ratner initially approached Robert Redford to play the role having been a fan of his work in the heist film The Hot Rock, but Redford turned him down.
• Matthew Broderick as Mr. Fitzhugh, a bankrupt former Wall Street investor who aids Josh. Broderick joined the cast on October 26, 2010.
• Judd Hirsch as M. Simon, The Tower s general manager.
• Téa Leoni as Claire Denham, an FBI special agent assigned to Shaw s case. Leoni joined the cast on October 21, 2010. Leoni worked with FBI technical advisor Anne C. Beagan to prepare for her role. On her character and work with Beagan, Leoni said: Agent Denham is your standard-issue, ball-breaking FBI agent. She s certainly a very tough lady, and it s not my first waltz with this type of character. However, I was able to spend some time with Anne, a great technical advisor we had on set. She s got this steely gaze that is terrifying, but what s underneath that is a very interesting lady. Beyond the technical aspects of the job, she provided so much more for me to use.
• Michael Peña as Enrique Devereaux, the elevator operator and the newest employee of The Tower s staff. Peña was cast on October 19, 2010.
• Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa Montero, a Jamaican-born maid at The Tower threatened with deportation by Shaw s theft. To perform her character s Jamaican accent, Sidibe had three dialect coaches help her prepare along with a friend of Jamaican heritage. Additionally, Sidibe worked with an actual safecracker to accurately portray breaking into locks. Sidibe was cast on October 19, 2010.
• Stephen McKinley Henderson as Lester, The Tower s retiring doorman. Henderson was cast after the filmmakers saw his performance in August Wilson s Fences on Broadway.
• Nina Arianda as Miss Iovenko, a receptionist at The Tower and lawyer-in-training.
• Marcia Jean Kurtz as Rose D Amato, the personal assistant to Kovacs and Simon at The Tower.
• Juan Carlos Hernandez as Manuel, The Tower s head of security.
• Harry O Reilly as FBI Special Agent Dansk, an FBI agent working alongside Denham and the agent guarding the penthouse entrance during Shaw s house arrest who runs afoul of Odessa. He is later seen arresting Charlie as Denham and the other agents round up Josh and his co-conspirators.
• James Colby as FBI Special Agent Huggins, an FBI agent working alongside Denham. Most of the time, he is guarding Shaw s penthouse with Dansk, and other times, he takes turns with the other agents driving Denham s car while taking Shaw to his court dates.
• Edward Noone as unnamed FBI Special Agent working along with Denham and the agent usually guarding Shaw in the backseat of Denham s car.
• Peter Van Wagner as Marty Klein, Shaw s attorney.
• Željko Ivanek as FBI Director Mazin, the head of the FBI s New York field office and Denham s boss.
• Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the voice of a radio host
• Annika Pergament as the voice of a NASDAQ news reporter
• Clem Cheung as Kwan
• Robert Downey Sr. as Judge Ramos, a judge who resides in The Tower.
• Kate Upton as the mistress of Mr. Hightower.
• Marilyn Kim as Mrs. Jin, a resident of The Tower.
• Judianny Compress as Rita
• Dylan Ratigan as News Reporter
• Allie Woods Jr. as Mr. Newhouse, a shoeshiner who works at The Tower.
• Johnny Tran as Huang, a member of The Tower s cleaner staff.
• Jessica Szohr as Sasha Kovaks-Gibbs, Charlie s pregnant wife and Josh s sister.
• Heavy D as a courthouse guard that informs Claire and her fellow special agents that Judge Hollingsworth is in Washington, D.C. visiting his daughter.
• Jan Owens as Mrs. Cronan, a resident of The Tower whose dog is walked by Mr. Fitzhugh.
• Lucky Park as Lucy the Dog, a dog owned by Mrs. Cronan.

Production

Development

The idea for Tower Heist began development as early as 2005, when Murphy pitched a concept to producer Brian Grazer and Ratner concerning an all-star cast of black comedians including Chris Tucker, Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Tracy Morgan, and Martin Lawrence, as a group of disgruntled employees who plan to rob Donald Trump and Trump International Hotel and Tower. The film was originally titled Trump Heist under this concept. A script was developed by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage and over the course of the next five years, the script was rewritten by several writers including Russell Gewirtz, Rawson Marshall Thurber, Ted Griffin, Leslie Dixon, Noah Baumbach, and Jeff Nathanson, with the bulk of the work – and credit – going to Griffin and Nathanson. On the development of the film, Grazer said It s difficult to imagine that a casual conversation six years ago has grown into such a fully realized film that is so grand in scope. Plus, who could have known that, in this period of time, the global financial markets would teeter on the verge of collapse and the villain in our story would pale in comparison to some very real ones on Wall Street? Truth remains stranger than fiction.

Rewrites of the script gradually moved away from the ensemble of comedians and began to focus on two central characters, at which point Murphy left the project. The modified script reminded Ratner of the Ocean s Eleven remake, a project he had developed but for which he was unavailable due to his commitment to directing Rush Hour 2. The project remained in development for a period of years but Ratner remained committed to the project, having enjoyed the heist films of the 1970s including The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Hot Rock, and The Anderson Tapes, turning down the opportunity to direct other films such as Horrible Bosses, which he instead produced. Ratner also wanted to work with Murphy, whom Ratner partially credited as inspiring his Rush Hour films. As the script began to be finalized, Murphy was drawn back into the much changed project after being informed of Stiller s participation, with Murphy being offered the role of Slide. Murphy rejoined as both a cast member and producer, alongside Grazer and Kim Roth. In late October 2010, the film was finally scheduled for release, being given a November 4, 2011, release date.

Writing

Feeling the original concept was too close to Ocean s Eleven, Ratner attempted to recruit Rush Hour screenwriter Nathanson to perform additional work on the Tower Heist script, but at that time Nathanson was unavailable. Ratner instead hired Griffin, a writer on the Ocean s Eleven remake. Griffin brought the real motivation and the heart to the concept , moving away from the premise of performing an ensemble heist on a rich Donald Trump type, and focusing instead on a group of blue-collar employees who take on a corrupt, thieving Bernard Madoff like businessman who has embezzled their pensions. Ratner enjoyed the pitch and brought it to Grazer who gave his approval. After taking the script to Stiller and bringing him into the project, Ratner had Noah Baumbach perform specific rewrites for Stiller s character. Nathanson then came aboard the project and performed the final rewrites to Griffin s screenplay in October 2010, adding the obstacles, complexities and specificities of the characters .

To help develop the script, the filmmakers and writers spoke with the resident managers of several high-profile New York hotels to learn of their experiences interacting with their clientele. This research gave Griffin the idea for Shaw s possessing a vehicle in his apartment, which Grazer and Ratner eventually decided would be a rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso which once belonged to Steve McQueen. On his research, Nathanson said It was informative, to say the least, to speak with the people who work in these buildings. I interviewed everyone from doormen to housekeepers to building managers. There s a whole underworld to the New York building scene that exists in the basements that most people are unaware of. They make it all possible, and you just never see it. It s fascinating.

Filming

Filming began in November 2010, taking place entirely in New York City on a budget of $85 million ($75 million after tax rebates). Production designer Kristi Zea visited several upscale hotels and high-rise residences to research the design elements to incorporate into the opulent surroundings of the tower and Shaw s penthouse. Zea created an amalgamation of the elements she saw during her research to create a sophisticated lobby design for the tower. For Shaw s penthouse, Zea took inspiration from a top-floor apartment in the Trump International Hotel and Tower at Central Park West in Columbus Circle. Zea populated the apartment with an assortment of art pieces to represent Shaw s status, based on specific artists and works that Ratner suggested. Zea decided to use modern-classic reproduction designs by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol. Explaining her decision, Zea said These days, it seems wealthy people want to have wall power. They want to have art on their walls that means something and shows people, just like a car, that, I m rich, I m smart and I know what I m doing.

Donald Trump allowed the production to use several of his own properties to portray the luxurious locales with the Trump International Hotel and Tower being used for exterior shots of the tower. Sections of the building were recreated on closed green screen sets for some of the film s visual effects. A foot and car chase sequence was filmed on Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Some vehicle filming occurred on sound stages in Brooklyn. The burglary itself takes place during the Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parade, requiring the crew to film parts of the actual parade itself, and then recreate the event one week later for further filming.

For Shaw s Ferrari, it was decided that purchasing an actual model – of which only 350 exist and would cost at least $1 million – would be too expensive and the vehicle would be unsuitable for filming purposes. Instead, two replicas were commissioned, a process which took three months under the supervision of prop master Peter Gelfman. The replicas then received additional reinforcement for filming purposes from Steve Kirshoff and the special effects crew. After running camera tests on several authentic Ferrari colors, it was decided to paint the replicas bright red in order to create a lasting impression instead of using the actual metallic brown muted-coloring of McQueen s vehicle. Sidibe and Murphy performed the only improvised scene, in which they are cracking a safe together. Test screenings did not result in any scenes being cut from the film, with Ratner claiming that the theatrical version is his director s cut . He did remove some scenes which he felt didn t fit , or did not match the PG-13 rating the filmmakers were targeting. In post-production, Universal decided to film a new scene for the ending that would feature a reunion between Stiller and Murphy s characters. Murphy refused to return unless he was paid a further $500,000 on top of his $7.5 million salary. The studio declined to pay the additional money and the scene was not shot.

Music

Tower Heist (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album and film score by Christophe Beck
Released	November 1, 2011
Genre	Score soundtrack
Length	40:00
Label	Varèse Back Lot Colosseum
Producer	Jake Monaco
Christophe Beck film scores chronology
Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) Tower Heist (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2011) The Muppets (Original Score) (2011)

The film s soundtrack album and musical score was composed by Christophe Beck and produced by Jake Monaco and was released on November 1, 2011, by Varèse Sarabande, Back Lot Music and Colosseum Records. It consists of 22 tracks with a runtime of 40 minutes.

All tracks are written by Christophe Beck.

No.	Title	Length
1.	Theme From Tower Heist	3:30
2.	Code Black	2:52
3.	Shawnfrontation	2:07
4.	The Germ	1:55
5.	Lester s Loss	0:58
6.	My Little Bitch	1:28
7.	Macy s Day	2:45
8.	The Marshall Swindle	1:09
9.	Right at Rikers	0:44
10.	Fifty Dollar Thrift Lift	1:55
11.	The Charlie Deception	0:55
12.	We Go On Snoopy	3:00
13.	Courthouse Con	1:50
14.	Grand Theft Auto	3:22
15.	Gonna Call Ralph	1:06
16.	Strong Box Situation	0:58
17.	Shaft Fail	0:48
18.	Odessa s Cake	1:39
19.	Arrested	0:53
20.	Shawstafari	2:42
21.	Gold Rush	2:09
22.	End Titles	1:29
Total length:		40:00

Release

The world premiere of Tower Heist took place on October 24, 2011, at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. The film was theatrically released on November 4, 2011, in the United States by Universal Pictures and Relativity Media.

Video on demand boycott

On October 5, 2011, Universal Pictures announced that Tower Heist would be made available for home viewing via parent company Comcast s video on demand system three weeks after its theatrical debut at the rental cost of $59.99. The move was announced as a test case, to be conducted only in Atlanta and Portland. The move met with criticism from cinema chains over concern that the test and any further future implementation would impact ticket sales. The following day, Cinemark Theatres – the third largest cinema chain in the United States – threatened to not show the film at all if Universal proceeded with the test. On October 11, 2011, several independent theater chains, including Galaxy Theatres, Regency Theatres and Emagine Theatres, and small cinema houses representing approximately 50 screens across the country, also threatened not to play Tower Heist. The following day the chains were joined by 950-screen National Amusements theater chain. In response, Universal Pictures released a statement saying that they would no longer pursue the proposed test.

Box office

Tower Heist earned $78 million in the United States and Canada, and $74.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $152.9 million. Pre-release audience tracking in the United States indicated that the film had strong awareness among males of all ages, followed by older women. Universal Pictures projected opening takings of $25–30 million during the opening weekend – aiming below expectations due to a slow marketplace – with rival studios claiming that the film would need to make at least $30 million to be a success. In the United States and Canada, Tower Heist opened in 3,367 theaters. The film took $85,000 from midnight screenings and a total of $8.5 million opening Friday, becoming the number one grossing film for the day. Although the film had been expected to be the number one film for the weekend, it took $10.5 million on the opening Saturday, falling behind the animated film Puss in Boots ($15.3 million). Tower Heist became the number two film for the weekend with $24 million, behind Puss in Boots ($34 million), with 70% of the audience being over the age of 25—the largest segment, 27%, being over 50—and 56% male. The opening audience was ethnically diverse consisting of 48% Caucasian, 21% African American, and 21% Hispanic. Tower Heist was released on November 2, 2011, in the United Kingdom and opened in a total of 23 countries, including Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, and India, by November 4, 2011, at a total of 1,948 theaters. The opening weekend saw the film gross $9.5 million – an average of $5,000 per theater – with the largest earnings coming from the United Kingdom ($2.3 million at 416 theaters) where it was the number three film for the weekend, and Spain ($1.6 million at 300 theaters) where it was the number two film.

Home media

Tower Heist was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United States on February 21, 2012. The DVD and Blu-ray disc versions contain two alternate endings to the film, deleted and alternate scenes, a gag reel of mistakes made during filming, commentary on the film by Ratner, Griffin, Nathanson, and editor Mark Helfrich, and a behind the scenes film that details the development process of the film. The Blu-ray edition additionally contains film storyboards, three videos about the filmmaking process led by Ratner, and musical tracks from the film.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on reviews from 200 critics, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site s critics consensus reads: Tower Heist is a true Brett Ratner joint: little brains to this caper, but it s fun fluff, exciting to watch, and showcases a welcome return to form for Eddie Murphy. Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B on an A+ to F scale.

Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph called the film a tolerably enjoyable Brett Ratner movie , labeling it brash, forgettable fun . He criticized Ratner for having the mostly white characters require the aid of a black character for the heist, saying it s a little embarrassing that they can t conceive of doing this without bailing a black criminal out of jail but cultural sensitivity has never been Ratner s strong suit. The Hollywood Reporter s Todd McCarthy said that the film is snappy, well cast and streetwise but felt that it ignored the contemporary economic issues at its core . McCarthy said that Murphy s performance was a return to form as the rude, confrontational, wiseass Murphy audiences have nearly forgotten after all the silly kid comedies and heavy-makeup outings of recent years , and said that with his introduction the film s energy and amusement level kick up a few notches , but that the enjoyment ebbs during the actual break-in, in which Murphy becomes neutered ... and the logistics of the heist become too far-fetched and laborious.

New York s David Edelstein called it a shameless but exuberantly well-done caper comedy , and praised the performances of Stiller, Murphy and Leoni, saying Ben Stiller ... and Eddie Murphy ... show off two of the best fastballs in comedy, and Téa Leoni s best scene as an FBI agent – drunk, both sloppy and blunt – makes you wish she had more. Emanuel Levy called Tower Heist a formulaic, haphazardly plotted action comedy ... whose best asset is its strong ensemble. Levy said What makes the picture ... work is not its plot, which is overly familiar and utterly implausible, but the socio-psychological dynamics that prevail among the. Levy singled out Stiller as well cast and Sidibe as having some of the picture s best lines , but gave individual praise to Murphy, saying that he dominates the second half of the picture , rendering a joyous performance that recalls his witty, charming, streetwise roles of the 1980s .

Empire s Nick de Semlyen awarded the film three out of five stars, calling it fun if uneven stuff from Ratner , with a fairly dull opening act. Semlyen said it was a welcome return to form for Eddie Murphy , but was critical that he is sorely underused . Semlyen praised Alda, saying that it is his smarm offensive that turns out to be the primary pleasure . The Village Voice s Nick Pinkteron said that the film deserves credit as a clean, well-turned job, fleet and funny and inconsequential , and appreciated the cast, praising Leoni as the best thing going , and Murphy s inspired contributions. Pinkerton was critical of the script, describing it as amateur as its crooks: the audience isn t even fully aware of who s in on the job when it kicks off, while other threads are left dangling.

Roger Ebert awarded the film 2.5 out of 4, saying This isn t a great heist movie for a lot of reasons, beginning with the stupidity of its heist plan and the impossibility of these characters ever being successful at anything more complex than standing in line , but appreciated that the comedy did not go heavy on the excremental, the masturbatory and symphonies of four-letter words , calling it funny in an innocent screwball kind of way . Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called the film overblinged, eye-catching, and essentially tacky , and praised Murphy, saying when Murphy is on screen, his comedic vigor ... gooses the movie s energy level ... but whenever Murphy wanders off, the movie s pulse rate drops. Tower Heist is in effect two movies: One belongs to Murphy, the other to the rest of the cast. Time Out London s Trevor Johnston said that though it s hard to get excited by this amiable potboiler, Tower Heist is so at home with its limitations it s equally hard to dislike , but criticized the finale which might have been a bit more tense had we been able to take it remotely seriously . Time Out New York s David Fear gave it 2 out of 5 stars, saying one nail-biting moment and some much-missed Murphy mouthiness won t keep you from feeling like you re the one being ripped off.

The New Yorker s Anthony Lane criticized the plot, saying toss everything you can find, starting with roughly diced plots, into the blender: such appears to be the method behind Tower Heist. Lane called the characters unlikable people but offered praise to Broderick, saying he underplays so well . Lane lamented that the notion of a theft from the thieves – from those who are lapped in lofty, screw you wealth – is a tempting one right now, but Tower Heist passes the buck. Variety s Peter Debruge was also critical, saying the film goes wonky on the way to the bank, due to its lackluster pacing and shortage of the qualities that typically earn stars Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy their paychecks – namely, laughs. Debruge felt that the opening 40 minutes were a dull blue-collar drama populated entirely by stereotypes , and while the film picks up some much-needed momentum with the actual heist, the resolution feels rushed . Debruge echoed praise for Murphy, calling his performance a welcome return to the comic s irreverent, 80s-era persona , and lamenting his limited screen-time.

Accolades

Tower Heist received two NAACP Image Award nominations, for Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for Eddie Murphy.

Year	Award	Category	Recipients	Result
2012	Movies for Grownups Award	Best Comedy	Tower Heist	Nominated
	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Motion Picture		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	Eddie Murphy	Nominated

Condition

New

Publisher

Universal Pictures

Published Date

2013-02-26

Rating MPA

Pg-13

Recording Length

105

Recording Studio

Universal Pictures

Format

DVD

Brand

Universal Pictures

Age Group

Adult

Amazon ASIN

B004A8ZWWO

UPC / EAN

025192076619

Year

2011

ReleaseDate

2011-11-04

RuntimeMins

104

RuntimeStr

1h 44min

Awards

Awards, 3 nominations

Directors

Brett Ratner

Writers

Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Ted Griffin

Stars

Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck

Produced by

Bill Carraro, Brian Grazer, Karen Kehela Sherwood, Eddie Murphy, Kim Roth

Music by

Christophe Beck

Cinematography by

Dante Spinotti

Film Editing by

Mark Helfrich

Casting By

Kathleen Chopin

Production Design by

Kristi Zea

Art Direction by

Nicholas Lundy

Set Decoration by

Diane Lederman

Costume Design by

Sarah Edwards

Makeup Department

Dennis Bailey, Nathan J. Busch II, John Caglione Jr., LuAnn Claps, Laurie Cocheio, Naomi Donne, Sunday Englis, Lisa Hazell, Michelle Johnson, Natasha Ladek, Sanja Milic, Evelyne Noraz, Shaun Perkins, Lyndell Quiyou, Susan Schectar, Dina Sliwiak, Kerrie Smith

Production Management

Bill Carraro, Jennifer Lane, Carla Raij

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

G.A. Aguilar, Sarah Fairchild, Catherine Feeny, Michelle Flevotomas, James M. Freitag, Tudor Jones, Borjan Jovanovich, Takahide Kawakami, Conor Kelly, Maura Kelly, Amy Lauritsen, Jeremy Marks, Michael McGuirk, Francisco Ortiz, Michael A. Pinckney, Travis Rehwaldt, Joseph P. Reidy, Justin Ritson, Doug Torres, Christian Vendetti

Art Department

Greg Aharoni, Derrick Alford, I. Javier Ameijeiras, Cesar Baptista, Steve Brennan, Wendy Brown, Stephen Caldwell, Katie Clinebelle, Rashad Clinton, Caswell Cooke, David Cooney, Pete Dancy, Miguel De Jesus, Joseph Deluca, Robert DiGrigoli, Liza Donatelli, Natalie N. Dorset, Richard Bryan Douglas, Kate English, Vanessa Frost, Larry Gagosian, Daniel Geary, Peter Gelfman, Edward R. Geller, Jay Geller, Jonathan Graham, Orey Graham, Glen A. Gregory, John Grimolizzi, Eric Helmin, Jonathan Huggins, Deborah Jensen, Claire Kirk, Jessica Kosky, Gordon Krause, Hugh Landwehr, Paul Alexander Larkin, Peter Levitsky, Julia Lucas, Ralph Lucci, Michael Ludwig, Michael Ludwig, Patrick Michael Malloy, Brian Mannain, Justin Martin, Nick Miller, Christine Moosher, Jeff Naparstek, Michael Lee Nirenberg, Mel Noped, Steven R. Paquette, Jessie Pellegrino, Carl Peterson, John Pollard, Mark Pollard, Stephen Powers, Blythe R.D. Quinlan, Diane Rich, Julio Daniel Rodriguez, Daniel Sheppard, Nithya Shrinivasan, Mike Thompson, Robert Topol, M. Tony Trotta, Marie Lynn Wagner, Dave Weinman, Jason Weinman, Anastasia White, Bentley Wood, Polly Wood-Holland, Denis Zack, Harriet Zucker, William Depaolo, Dennis Tillberg

Sound Department

Coll Anderson, Brian Bowles, Michael Broomberg, Michael Feuser, Dann Fink, Mariusz Glabinski, Gary A. Hecker, Harry Higgins, Paul Hsu, Bobby Johanson, Dan Korintus, Tony Lamberti, Anna MacKenzie, Tod A. Maitland, Eric McAllister, Michael Minkler, Matthias Neumann, Dave Paterson, Jacob Ribicoff, Michael Rivera, Michael Scott, Warren Shaw, Stuart Stanley, Paul Stevenson, Eric Strausser, Paul Stula, Bill Sweeney, Andrii Trifonov, Teddy Walsh, Bruce Winant, Jerry Yuen, Kyle Benitez, P.J. Corvus, Paul Drenning, Nerses Gezalyan, Rebecca Lynn Goldfarb, Michael Jesmer, Daniel R. Kerr, Rhys Maitland-Jones, Jay Peck, Philip Rogers, Mark Sheffield, Jason Stasium

Special Effects by

Doug Coleman, Joe Heffernan, Jack Kirshoff, Steven Kirshoff, Roy Savoy, Devin Maggio

Visual Effects by

Osvaldo Andreaus, Cynthia Angel, Gordon Antell, Ivan Arsic, Arsen Arzumanyan, John Bair, Renuka Ballal, Randall Balsmeyer, Joyce Boll, Igor Boshoer, John Bruno, Cara Buckley, John J. Budion, Michael Capton, Christian Cardona, Tucker Cedarleaf, Kate Chappell, Leslie Chung, Kyle Cody, Chad E. Collier, Vivian Connolly, J. John Corbett, Christopher Cram, Sean Curran, Robert Nicholas Dauphinais, Scott M. Davids, Steve Dellerson, Brian Di Noto, Luciano DiGeronimo, Aleksandar Djordjevic, Nancy Duff, Andrew Edwards, Zviah Eldar, Josh Elmore, Nicholas Elwell, Liza D. Espinas, Jason Forster, Mark Friedman, Dan Giraldo, Justin Gladis, Leighton Greer, Miguel A. Guerrero, Jihyae Ham, Peter Hannert, Robert Henry, Adam Howard, Chris Hunt, Alexander Jacquet, Alice Kahn, David Kirchner, Seth Kleinberg, Mathew Krentz, Erik LaPlant, Tram Le-Jones, Jaemin Lee, Sun Lee, Winston Lee, Ryan Leonard, Karin Levinson, Yuval Levy, Jay Lichtman, Mark Lieberman, Gregory D. Liegey, John Mangia, David Marte, Justin Maynard, Jamison McCord, David Michaels, Bogdan Mihajlovic, Dragan Miokovic, Dusko Miokovic, Alejandro Monzon, Anton Moss, Marc Nanjo, Abbas Naqvi, Joseph Oberle, Goran Ognjanovic, Thomas Panayiotou, Sangdo Park, Jale Parsons, Amy Paskow, David Piombino, Jonathan Podwil, Eddie Porter, Lea Prainsack, Greg Radcliffe, Aaron Raff, Jared Reisweber, Jim Rider, Matthew Robertson, Troy Robinson, Mark Russell, Dwight Samuels, Heather Saunders, Laura Sevilla, Vico Sharabani, Tal Shuv, Jonathan Skabla, Katherine Soares, Jesse Spielman, Ben Sumner, Ginger Theisen, David Toepfer, Paul Tsung, Tim Van Horn, Nancey S. Wallis, Bryan Wengroff, Jessica Wilson-Silas, Derek Winslow, Scott Winston, Chi-Min Yang, Jd Yepes, Mohummed Yusef, Michael Zavala, Dan Cayer, Aliza Corson Chameides, Neil Craig, P. Whitney Gearin, Mara Hamilton, Boaz Livny, Eddie Offermann, Craig Sylvester, Mark Edward Wright, Tom Zils

Stunts

G.A. Aguilar, Bill Anagnos, Chris Barnes, Bobby Beckles, Nitasha Bhambree, Christiana Blain, Myra Dakota Bown, Jill Brown, Steven Cachie Brown, Tim Buchanan, Paul Bucossi, Jared Burke, Nicole Callender, Virgil Carter, Chris Cenatiempo, John Cenatiempo, Darren Cerullo, Victor Chan, Chris Colombo, George B. Colucci Jr., Blaise Corrigan, Harry Corrigan, William Cote, Neimah Djourabchi, Norman Douglass, Peter Epstein, Leon Fearon, Mark Fichera, Stephanie Finochio, Greg Fitzpatrick, David Flol, Aja Frary, Edward Gabree, Jeffrey Lee Gibson, Tony Guida, Gene Harrison, Don Hewitt, Donald John Hewitt, Jery Hewitt, Stephen Izzi, Thomas La Marche, Jennifer Lamb, Roberto Lopez, Jalil Jay Lynch, Samantha MacIvor, Steve Mack, Carmel Macklin, Ronald Scott Maestri, Stephen Mann, Devon McKenzie, Ian Mclaughlin, Chazz Menendez, Luis Moco, Declan Mulvey, Kimberly Shannon Murphy, Mick O Rourke, Victor Paguia, Janet Paparazzo, Heidi Philipsen, Christopher Place, Thomas Place, Dave Pope, Stephen A. Pope, Jodi Michelle Pynn, Daniel Quintana, Natalie Rivas, J.C. Robaina, Michael Russo, Jeremy Sample, Elliot Santiago, Keith Siglinger, Derrick Simmons, Brian Smyj, Matthew R. Staley, Aaron Vexler, Caroline Vexler, Adam Wood, James Thomas Bligh, Jill Brown, Tim Buchanan, William Cote, Cort Hessler, Donald John Hewitt, Katie Letien, John E. Mack, Aaron Vexler

Camera and Electrical Department

Blake Alcantara, John Alcantara, Manuel Billeter, Thomas Calandrillo, Vincent Camuto Jr., Jason Cortazzo, Mark Cyr, James Daly, Julian J. Delacruz, Jack Donnelly, Jay Fortune, Heather Gautney, Kevin Gilligan, Christopher B. Green, Andrew Hamilton, Arthur Herman, Matthew Jacobs, Lukasz Jogalla, Glenn Kaplan, Meg Kettell, David Lee, William MacGhee, Michael C. Maronna, Diana Matos, Lance Mayer, Brian McClean, James J. McCullagh, John McIntyre, Paul C. McKenna, Doug Meils, Richard A. Mitchell, John J. Moers, William Moore, William D. Moran, Evan Nelson, John Nijhawan, David Norris, George Patsos, Guillaume Renberg, Stuart Rogers, Louis Sabat, Daniel D. Sariano, David Satin, Chris Silano, Mike Sime, Craig Striano, David J. Thompson, Joel Tishcoff, Jason Velez, Wilson Webb, Peter Chun Mao Wu, Ernest Yurich, Mike Yurich

Casting Department

Rori Bergman, Melissa Chusid, Veronika Lee Claghorn, Julie Hutchinson, Anne Reeves, Jennifer Sabel, William Smiley, Bruce Winant, Madina Milana, Baruch Santana, Grant Wilfley

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Ngina Bowen, Danielle Cadorette, Sabrina Calley, Troy David, Kate Edwards, Sandi Figueroa, Arianna Gallo, Kimmie Guiragossian, Emily Gunshor, Christina Hribar, Meghan Kasperlik, Leonard Logsdail, Marie A. MacDougall, Tim McKelvey, Samantha McMillen, Ariel Meade, Edward Ryan, Catharine Stuart, Benjamin Wilson, Lawrence Bell

Editorial Department

Angel L. Acevedo III, Mara Barbierato, Leslie Bautsch, Alex Brownley, Pete Conlin, Sean Dunckley, Peggy Eghbalian, Rebekah Fridman, Jonathan Hoffman, Chris Jackson, Michael Landon, Ginger Marley, Jim Passon, Stephen Regnier, Chad Schermerhorn, Stefan Sonnenfeld, Seth Weinman

Location Management

Malcolm Alston, Richard Connors, Ryan Ferguson, Jammie Glenn, Jose F. Guerrero, Erin Hallbauer, Corri Hopkins, Jule Ann Jappe, Matthew Kania, Michael Kriaris, Suk Yi Mar, Robert Noonan, Julie Solomon, Jeremy Edward Williamson

Music Department

Amjad Albasel, Nancy Allen, Leo Birenberg, Fernand Bos, Tom Brown, Matt Chamberlain, Tim Davies, George Doering, Peter Erskine, Tony Finno, Matt Franko, Mick Gormaley, Mark Graham, Jim Hoffman, Charles Martin Inouye, Mike Knobloch, Jeremy Levy, Rachel Levy, Larry Mah, Katherine Gordon Miller, Jake Monaco, Victor Pesavento, Randall Poster, Ruwanga Ru Samath, Naomi Sato, Sarah Scarlata, Jason Stasium, Casey Stone, Jeremy Sweet, Benjamin Wallfisch, Joe Zimmerman

Script and Continuity Department

Erin Feeley, Diane Hounsell, Martin Kitrosser

Transportation Department

Dan Buckman, Robert Buckman, David Conelli, Fred Herndon, Michael Hyde, Chris Marchesona, Mark Steiger

Additional Crew

Jared Acosta, Ramona Adair, Liz Adams, Athena Alexis, Giuseppe Ardizzone, Sam Arthurs, Craig Austin, Annie Avlon, Arusha Baker, Tanya Barringer, Anne Beagan, Gavin J. Behrman, Jeanne Bernhard, Mithun Bhat, Maï Boiron, Alexander Borukhov, Katherine Bralower, Jerome Butler, Alison Campo, Brian Cantaldi, Nick Carraro, Al Cerullo, Anita S. Chang, Blaine Chou, Christina Chow, Paulette D. Clark, Ryan Alan Dearth, David DeCicco, Katherine DeJesus, Adrienne Dine, Bryant Donohue, Stephen J. Douglas, Heather Eastburn, Monica Estrada, Nick Fabiano, Sarah Fairchild, D.R. Farquharson, Danny Frommer, Johannes Gamble, Kyle Gorjanc, Jemal Guillory, Edith Hagigi, Christopher Hall, Michael Hall, Zoe Hartman, Charisse M. Hewitt, Dan Hunt, Jonathan Hurwitz, Amanda Jabes, Nicole Johnson, Ben Katz, Kaelan Kelly-Sordelet, Beau Kline, Steven Lafferty, Lindsey Lefkow, Adam Levy, Sarah Lin, Rebecca Lindsey, Anthony Lote, Brendan C. Lynch, Ronald Scott Maestri, Dee Martin, Timothy Martin, Jesus E. Martinez, Carol McConnaughey, Kelly McKee, John Merchant, Carla Meyer, Cameron K. Morton, Dawn Mountain, Kasia Nabialczyk, Sean C. Nattini, Robbie Neigeborn, Howard Nourmand, Sean Oliver, Diego Daniel Pardo, Monica Perez Gelbman, Becky Phillips, Anthony Pizzini, Lori Prince, Katie Pruitt, Drew Ritson, Allison Robin, Matthew Roper, April Rose, Edward Ryan, Howard Samuelsohn, Mindy Silberman, Benton Stephens, Rebecca Thomas, Rob Tode, Shane Tunney, Christian Vogeler, Chris von Hoffmann, Robert E. Wagner, Ryder Washburn, Jamie Waxman, Randy Webster, Rebecca White, William Henderson White, Meghan K. Wicker, Kit Wiitanen, Danielle Zloto, Nathaniel Bryan, Gale Hansen, Douglas N. Honorof, James S. K., Michael Perilstein, Gabriel Rush

Thanks

John Battista, Michael Bloomberg, Agustine Calderon, John Cheng, Michael De Luca, Robert Evans, Dean McCann, Katherine Oliver, Jean Pigozzi, Roman Polanski, Joan Rivers, Jerry Stoeffhaas, James Toback, Donald Trump, Ye

Genres

Action, Comedy, Crime

Companies

Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Relativity Media

Countries

USA, Japan

Languages

English, Spanish, Chinese

ContentRating

PG-13

ImDbRating

6.2

ImDb Rating Votes

144330

Metacritic Rating

59

Short Description

Tower Heist is a 2011 American heist comedy film directed by Brett Ratner, written by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, based on a story by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper and Griffin and starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Judd Hirsch, Téa Leoni, Michael Peña, and Gabourey Sidibe. The plot follows employees of an exclusive apartment building who lose their pensions in the Ponzi scheme of a Wall Street businessman and enlist the aid of a criminal, a bankrupt businessman, and an immigrant maid to break into his apartment and steal back their money while avoiding the FBI agents in charge of his case.

Tower Heist began development as early as 2005, based on an idea by Murphy that would star him and an all-black cast of comedians as a heist group who rob Trump International Hotel and Tower. As the script developed and changed into an Ocean s Eleven–style caper, Murphy left the project. Ratner continued to develop the idea into what would eventually become Tower Heist, with Murphy later rejoining the production. Filming took place entirely in New York City on a budget of $75 million (after tax rebates), with several buildings provided by Donald Trump used to represent the eponymous tower. The film s soundtrack album and musical score was composed by Christophe Beck and produced by Jake Monaco and was released on November 1, 2011, by Varèse Sarabande, Back Lot Music and Colosseum Records.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise going to the cast, including Broderick, Leoni, and Stiller. Murphy s performance was repeatedly singled out, with critics feeling that he displayed a welcome return to the comedic style of his early career. Much of the criticism was focused on the plot, which was considered formulaic , rushed , dull and laborious . The film was theatrically released on November 4, 2011, in the United States by Universal Pictures where it earned $152.9 million worldwide on a budget of $75–85 million.

Prior to release, the film was involved in a controversy over plans by Universal Pictures to release it for home viewing on video on demand to 500,000 Comcast customers, only three weeks after its theatrical debut. Concern over the implementation s harming ticket sales and inspiring further films to follow suit resulted in several theater chains refusal to show the film at all if the plan went ahead, forcing Universal to abandon the idea.

This was one of Heavy D s final roles before he died.

Box Office Budget

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$24,025,190

Box Office Gross USA

$78,046,570

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$152,930,623

Keywords

Manager,high rise,heist,ponzi scheme,fbi agent