Mom's Minute

 

Introduction to the Tower Heist Netflix Movie Review

 

When I watched the 2011 Tower Heist Netflix movie, I felt like I had already watched the film before. When the red vehicle appeared in the movie, I could almost see myself back in the year 2011 sitting in the middle front row seat section of the movie theater watching this film. Yes...this movie was released long before the Pandemic occurred.

 

I decided to rewatch the Tower Heist Netflix movie since I had not previously reviewed it and at the time, the film was currently holding a top 10 spot on Netflix.

 

DId I enjoy watching the Tower Heist Netflix movie – twice? Will I think you will enjoy watching it even once? Check out my movie review of the Tower Heist Netflix film to find out.

 

Synopsis of the Tower Heist Netflix Movie

 

The Tower Heist Netflix movie stars Ben Stiller as Josh Kovaks who, when the film starts, is a busy general manager of a high-rise luxury hotel. He is even friendly with an executive of the hotel -- (Alan Alda as Arthur Shaw), for example playing chess with him online.

 

The gist of the Tower Heist Netflix movie is that unfortunately Alan Alda’s character swindled his employees' pensions – employees who  were mostly maintenance workers, cleaning people as well as a retiring doorman, played by Stephen McKinley Henderson. 

 

When Ben Stiller’s character finds out about the pension swindle, he discovered that Alan Alda’s character was already under investigation by the FBI for his fraudulent misdeeds.

 

After he was fired, Ben Stiller took it upon himself to find out where Alan Alda’s character stashed the money, which was estimated to be at least 45 million dollars, give or take 10 million.

 

To make a long story short, Ben Stiller’s character figured out where he thought the money was hidden (which it was not). However, while everyone was searching for the money in Alan Alda’s hotel room, there was an altercation between Eddie Murphy's and Gabourey Sidibe’s character when a bullet arbitrarily struck the red car that was parked inside the room. 

 

 This is when Ben Stiller’s character instantly noticed there is something unique about the car and the car itself became the focus of the Tower heist.

 

 

 

Realism of the Tower Heist Netflix Movie

 

There are quite a few unreal moments in the Tower Heist Netflix movie which i will reveal by asking a series of questions, starting with:

 

—How did the bullet from Gabourey Sidibe's character's gun conveniently nick the red car to expose gold when more than likely the force of the bullet would have burnt a hole through showing charred dark metal instead of bright, shiny gold?

 

–How did the doorman become part of the Tower Heist robbery team as the get-away truck driver decoy – when he was never in any of the team’s meetings or had conversations with Ben Stiller’s character about this?

 

—Why would an executive give Casey Afffeck’s character Ben Stiller's old job he was fired from when Ben Stiller’s character made it clear that he is grossly not qualified to do the job?

 

—Even more importantly, why would Casey Affleck’s character, who is now the new General Manager of the hotel, all of a sudden decide to assist the Tower Heist robbers when he is no longer part of their robbery team?

 

—And last but not least – How could Matthew Broderick’s character be conveniently rescued by Casey Affleck’s character and land safely in a hotel room after hanging dangerously from the red car outside of the skyscraper hotel wiindow?

 

There may be more unrealistic actions by the characters, but I will stop here.

 

 

Standout Actor in the Tower Heist Netflix Movie

In my opinion, the stand out actor in the Tower Heist Netflix movie is none other than Eddie Murphy who played the role of a petty thief, Darnell “Slide” Davis. In spite of his character’s profanity, I think he played his role well and in some cases showed that he was sometimes the comedy relief for the Tower Heist Netflix movie.

 

One of Eddie Mur[hy’s stand out scenes in the Tower Heist Netflix movie is when his character asked the team to steal something in the mall and to leave their wallet with him to make sure they would not end up paying for the items. The team did as told, then asked Eddie Murphy's character how would they know he would hold up his part of the bargain and if he could do what they just did. Eddie Murphy’s character proudly looked at them before walking away saying that he had already proven himself by stealing all the money they had left with him from their wallets.  I'm not a proponent of stealing but felt that Eddie Murphy's character gave the team an excellent comeback line.

 

Ending of the Tower Heist Netflix Movie

 

I usually do not reveal how a movie ends, but since it is a 2011 movie that you probably have already seen, I will make an exception for the Tower Heist Netflix movie.

 

 

The film  ended with all of the heist team members being arrested by the FBI even though they never located the stash of money which was non-existent or the estimated 45 million dollar red/gold car – which did exist. 

 

Before the robbery team was incarcerated, somehow they found a way to distribute parts of the red car that was made of gold beneath the paint to the loyal employees of the hotel who had their pensions stolen.

 

The issue is unless the swindled hotel employees find a way to melt the car parts they received before trying to barter them for money, would they feel safe from being arrested by taking gold car parts to a pawn shop etc.? I’m sure the vendor would be hesitant to do business with them.

 

In my opinion, a better Tower Heist Netflix movie ending would show Ben Stiller’s character (before his arrest) finding someone to melt down the car completely, exchange the gold for money, and distribute the money to all of the swindled hotel employees based upon their pension amounts.

 

 

Assessment of the Tower Heist Netflix  Movie

 

There were some creative writing segments in the Tower Heist Netflix movie, such as using chess jargon at the beginning and end of the movie; however, I think the plot needed more work. The arrest of Alan Alda’s character who swindled the money seemed to be a waste of time, especially when one of the managers stated that his job would be waiting for him when he is probably quickly released from prison.

 

For the most part, as I continued to watch the Tower Heist Netflix movie, I was already thinking of the  next film to watch – even before this one ended.

 

In other words, rewatching the Tower Heist Netflix movie was ok, but not worth the time for me.  

 

That being said, you may want to check out the Tower Heist Netflix movie, especially if you have not seen it before or if you are a fan of Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy or any of the other actors in the film.

 

Rating of the Tower Heist Netflix Movie

 

 

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate the Tower Heist Netflix movie 2 stars.