Player Got Played in "Tower Heist"

Hi everybody,

I’ve watched way too many comedies that I can’t laugh at random funny things anymore. In order to gain my laughter, a comedy has to be funny and witty at the same time. I believe the last time I watched something at that caliber was “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” To me, a good comedy movie is something that still can make me laugh the second (and the third, and so on and so forth) time around. With me fully knowing all the tricks in the bag, it is hard to laugh at lame jokes. Believe me, I tried. Even during certain sub-par episodes of “The Big Bang Theory,” I didn’t laugh.

I know, I’m tough as a coconut when it comes to watching comedies these days. But “Tower Heist” made me laugh, ok? It’s not one of those funny and witty movies that I like. It’s just plain funny. And twisty as hell, that’s what I’d like to put it.

When I first saw the DVD, my inclination was not to buy it and not to watch it at all because Ben Stiller has stopped being funny for a while now. The last movie he made that gave me a couple of ha-has was “Tropic Thunder” and I wasn’t even laughing at his character’s antic. I was laughing at Tom Cruise (ah, the irony!) Even Eddie Murphy did not have enough power to convince me to buy the DVD.

But it was Gabourey Sidibe that tipped the scale (no pun intended, girlfriend! You know I love you!) I mean, the girl is really talented and I wanted to watch her doing comedy. So I bought the DVD, went home, watched it and laughed my ass out!

Seriously, this is one funny movie! We have Ben Stiller doing the best nice-guy Ben Stiller. We have Eddie Murphy doing the old-skool Eddie Murphy. We have Matthew Broderick doing a nerdy and kinda wimpy version of himself, which is refreshing, by the way. On top of that, we have Casey Affleck (brother of Ben), and Téa Leoni. Seriously, with a cast that has so much talent, there are only two possible outcomes: the movie is either a flop or a big hit.

Turns out, it is a hit but ironically, an understated one. The tower robbery story has been done over and over again. Hello, Ocean 11, 12, and 13? But this is nothing like the Ocean franchise, not just because we don’t have George Clooney. This movie is so different, thanks to all the twists that makes it almost to the witty level that I’d like. There was no lag at all, the movie keeps on rolling from one high to another quite seemlessly.

To put it gently, this is a really good comedy. I watch a lot of comedies, believe me, I know! If you want a good laugh, please watch it. I’m sure it will not disappoint you.

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