Review: "Tower Heist"

The tower in “Tower Heist” is, literally, The Tower, a Trump Towers-esque palatial home to the Manhattan super-rich elite who live there and the small army of working-class stiffs who keep their pillows fluffed and the old ladies’ frou-frou dogs walked. The bad guy is a Bernie Madoff-style oligarch who gleefully steals from the rich and the not-so-rich alike, pocketing it all and depending on his money and connections to protect him from the Defarges of the world.

The heist part takes up the second half of the movie, as Ben Stiller leads a team of amateur thieves – and one professional, played by Eddie Murphy – into The Tower penthouse to reclaim their stolen pension money. It’s all about the righteous 99 percent thwarting the evil 1 percent.

It’s like Occupy Wall Street, rewritten as a goofy caper comedy.

I did not buy any of the characters in the movie as real people, and the mechanics of the actual heist doesn’t so much strain credulity as smash it into little pieces and stomp on it. At one point the film asks us to believe that hundreds of thousands of people attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade could be looking up into the air at all the floats, and not one of them notices something astonishing taking place at the top of The Tower.

Still, once the actual heist gets going, the movie revs up a decent amount of momentum and finds some sustainable laughs. It’s not quite enough to recommend it, but I’ll admit “Tower Heist” is a lot better than my exceedingly low expectations.

The first thing any potential ticket-buyer needs is to be disabused of the notion that this is a Stiller/Murphy buddy picture. Murphy plays Slide, who remains a fringe character until the 45-minute mark. He’s just some local loudmouth ex-con who shouts at neighbor Josh Kovacs (Stiller) whenever he walks by.

Later, after Josh is canned as the general manager of The Tower for standing up to top resident Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), he invites Slide to join his crew of bumbling burglars. He reminds Slide they used to be nursery-school classmates, which Josh seems to think means they have a relationship, despite having no true interaction for 40 years.

The lack of any real Murphy/Stiller pairing is the biggest disappointment about “Tower Heist.” Both actors have been stuck in a rut of middlebrow comedies lately, so the idea of a couple of aging but still potent funnymen tag-teaming has a great deal of appeal.

Alas, they’re reduced to a few lame, sniping exchanges: “That’s it! I don’t want to talk to you for the rest of the robbery!”

Director Brett Ratner and screenwriters Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson never really kick the action out of tame screwball comedy territory, despite the daring Occupy overtones.

It’s too bad, considering the killer cast they assembled: in addition to Stiller, Murphy and Alda, there’s Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Judd Hirsch, Michael Peña, Téa Leoni and Gabourey Sidibe. That’s five Academy Award nominees by my count – quite a lot of firepower considering the low-wattage material.

Affleck plays Josh’s dim brother-in-law; Peña is Dev’Reaux, the brash new elevator man; Sidibe is Odessa, a Jamaican maid with an outsize personality; Hirsch plays the unctuous Tower boss; and Leoni is the hard-wired FBI agent gunning for Shaw.

I particularly liked Broderick as Fitzhugh, a former Wall Street whiz turned unemployed evictee, who’s got an air of bottled-up middle-aged desperation just waiting to blow. Broderick has gray hair now, a couple of chins and a mid-life spread, but his boyish face still holds a hint of puckish Bueller charm.

Though held back by its sophomoric, self-imposed limitations, “Tower Heist” rises higher than it has any right to.

2.5 stars out of four

Video review: "Precious"

Lately it seems major films are being pushed onto video in a slipshod manner. Extras are skimpy and unenlightening, as if the studio couldn't be bothered to take the time or spend the money.

(Yeah, I'm talking to you, "Where the Wild Things Are.")

So it's refreshing to see Best Picture Oscar nominee "Precious" given a top-notch release. It's got a solid commentary track and host of probing featurettes totaling nearly an hour. About the only knock is the lack of a digital copy.

Extras are identical for DVD and Blu-ray versions. In the commentary, director Lee Daniels talks openly about his own troubled youth and how it inspired him during the shooting.

Author Sapphire speaks about her experiences as an inner-city teacher, and how she was reluctant to let Hollywood film her book. She relented after seeing Daniels' "Monsters Ball."

The casting of novice Gabourey Sidibe is covered in detail, including footage from her audition. Sidibe is nothing like her character -- she's smart, outgoing and "talks like a white girl," Daniels says.

Daniels talks about de-glamorizing his cast, making nearly everyone work without makeup -- he even reveals he caught Mariah Carey trying to sneak in some blush between takes.

Oprah and Tyler Perry talk about their roles in "presenting" the film. Artistically, they had nothing to do with it. But after seeing it, they felt compelled to lend their names to get the Sundance favorite a major release.

Set in Harlem 1987, it's the first-person story of Claireece "Precious" Jones, an obese, illiterate 16-year-old who's pregnant with her second child. She's the victim of her mother, a serial abuser, played with terrifying rage by Mo'Nique, and was raped repeatedly by her father.

She's like a thousand others girls that people pass on the streets every day without seeing. Her entire life has taught her to feel worthless, like "ugly black grease."

But Precious is given a second chance when she's sent to an alternative school, where she finds a teacher and fellow female students who help her, for the first time in her life, to feel empowered. The vibrant fantasies that ping around her head start to translate into the journals she keeps for class.

"Precious" is a hard movie to watch. The brutality it depicts, of both a physical and psychological nature, are vile. The only thing worse would be failing to see it.

Movie: 3.5 stars
Extras: 3.5 stars

Review: "Precious"

Clareece "Precious" Jones is one of the greatest cinematic heroes of all time.
In the movie that bears her name, she may not seem like such an admirable figure at first blush. She's 16 years old and illiterate, pregnant with her second child, morbidly obese and barely skating by in school.

But her life is such a crucible of pain, a never-ceasing litany of abuse and degradation, that just surviving makes her admirable. Persevering, and refusing to give in, make her braver than a hundred action stars.

"Precious" is everything you've heard, and more.

Technically, the full title is "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." It's burdensome, but at least it will be interesting to see how they fit it on the title cards at next March's Academy Awards telecast, where this film is destined to be well-represented.

Gabourey Sidibe, in her first acting role, plays Precious. Outwardly, she is unexpressive, barely ever speaking and hardly allowing a flicker of emotion to visit upon her broad face. Inside her mind, though, is a flight of dreams and thoughts she uses to transport herself out of the hellhole that is her life -- fantasies about fame and fortune, and a "light-skinned boyfriend with good hair."

The source of her pain is her mother, who hurls epithets, blows and acidic vitriol at her only child. Played by Mo'Nique in a brave performance without an ounce of vanity, Precious' mother is a woman who lacks a life of her own -- she has no job, no romantic partner and no love to give. She feeds off Precious like a leech, forcing her to cook and clean while she sits all day in the house watching idiot TV.

Other women offer rays of hope into the girl's life, though. There is the social worker, played by Mariah Carey, who has the well-practiced indifference of a bureaucrat, but whose heart is touched by this poor, sad girl.

And there is Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), the teacher at the alternative school where Precious is placed after getting thrown out of her own institution. Ms. Rain is pretty, well-educated and represents a world that is alien to Precious. When she is invited to stay in her teacher's home to get away from her mother, Precious listens to Ms. Rain and her partner converse and thinks, "They talk like TV channels I don't watch."

I will not lie: "Precious" is a tough, tough film to watch. I've held off telling you some of the most terrible deeds portrayed in the movie, in hopes of not scaring you off. But you need to know.

Precious was raped by her own father, who sired both her expected baby and her first child -- who has Down's Syndrome and is referred to as "Mongo," short for mongoloid. Her mother did nothing to prevent this, and indeed her metastasizing hatred for Precious is based on her belief that her daughter stole her man away from her.
These acts are unspeakable. Even the bravest souls would want to wither and die from being touched by them.

But Precious keeps going. She has struggles, experiences setbacks and moments of despair. But with the help of Ms. Rain and a handful of fellow troubled students, Precious never quits.

This extraordinary film was directed by Lee Daniels from a screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher. It is a portrait of human ugliness that is nearly unbearable to watch. But it's a movie that cries out to be seen, wept over, discussed -- and cherished.

3.5 stars out of four