Cambriolage dans la tour

Mis en scène sans personnalité mais de façon efficace par Brett Ratner (les «Rush Hour»), «Tower Heist» est une réunion au sommet entre quelques bons acteurs qui laisse malheureusement de glace.

Brett Ratner (RUSH HOUR, RED DRAGON) gâche une juteuse prémisse inspirée de l'actualité économique récente pour accoucher d'un film de cambriolage bavard et souvent arrangé avec le gars des vues, qu'il met en scène de façon vigoureuse mais routinière.

It plays out, one expected scene to the next, with Stiller looking increasingly constipated and Murphy looking bored. And the bottom line on this Wall Street-loathing comedy is a big fat yawn.

Tower Heist isn't aggressively bad or even offensive, but its utter lack of presence is almost worse.

Playing Stiller’s small-time crook neighbor, Murphy owns every scene he’s in and if TOWER HEIST is a hit, this could be a big comeback vehicle for the former great.

This smoothly engineered crowd-pleaser should fulfill its function just fine through Thanksgiving and beyond.

And while Heist does a nice job of broaching the economic reality facing people who actually work for a living, those moments succumb to action sequences that could have come from an '80's cop-buddy comedy, when Eddie Murphy made for a convincing con man.

Director Brett Ratner doesn't exactly tie up loose ends; the whole movie is loose ends. But it's a kick to watch a Ponzi-schemer get his. You won't remember Tower Heist an hour later, but the top cast makes the jokes (even the lousy ones) go down easy.

Oh, well. Mediocre entertainment is not a crime — this is still America, dammit! — but Tower Heist could and should have been much more.

Tower Heist respecte les consignes de la comédie délassante et confortable qui meuble efficacement du temps vacant. Bref une comédie d'ameublement. Rien à redire, le spectateur sera momentanément contenté mais attendra mieux la prochaine fois.