Daddy Day Afternoon

It’s probably not a mistake to feel somewhat robbed after “Tower Heist.” 

Brett Ratner’s movie is too rigid to be a good comedy and too goofy to be truly thrilling.

We learn a lot of mundane details about the inner workings of a New York building that is essentially Trump Tower, including security policies, elevator codes and its many tenants, minutiae that aren’t funny so much as they are characteristic of the film’s dopiness.

It’s all managed by Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), who, although very faithful to the tower’s owner, business mogul Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), plans to steal Shaw’s nest egg after Shaw gambles the entire staff’s money in a securities fraud scandal. 

“Tower Heist” gets a lot better when Eddie Murphy shows up and spouts a few amusing non sequiturs about “seizure boys” and “a gauntlet of lesbians” that free the screenplay of its shackles. 

But even his gifted ability to improvise is stifled by more sight gags and stunts. 

There’s a sense that “Tower Heist” could’ve been a riot if it just let loose and didn’t spend so much time making its plot as busy and polished as the equally lavish, excessive and indulgent tower it’s set in.