Tower Heist

The staff of a tony Manhattan apartment tower panics when one of the residents, a hotshot investment banker (Alan Alda) is charged with embezzling, among other things, the staff’s retirement funds. The manager (Ben Stiller) and some other victims (Matthew Broderick, Michael Peña, Casey Affleck) take matters into their own hands to steal their money back with the help of a streetwise hustler (Eddie Murphy). Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage’s script is a tad disorderly, especially slouching to its climax, but it leaves room for the cast to deploy their considerable comic skills (Murphy particularly shines). Brett Ratner directs with a lighter hand than usual; he doesn’t get in the actors’ way either. Téa Leoni has fun as an FBI agent wondering what Stiller and his pals are up to.