Ben Stiller plays Josh, the hotshot in this movie. You can tell he’s a hotshot because the movie has one of those hotshot sequences, wherein the character is introduced with a bunch of quick cuts, fast talk, and a bunch of other characters greeting him (rarely her), imploring him, interrupting him, and so on. Also, the movie takes place in Manhattan, where all movie hotshots reside. Josh is a residential building manager in charge of all the other employees who make the lives of the wealthy residents easier. In particular, they make the life of Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) easier. Shaw is a big-shot investor, and when he turns out to be a fraudster too—think Bernie Madoff—the big shot and the hotshot become enemies.
Their decision to become criminals is slightly more believable than in Horrible Bosses (which was produced by this film’s director, Brett Ratner), but the execution is much less so, since that comedy reminds us that most criminals, let alone dilettantes, aren’t good at it. Here, the defrauded workers turn, too easily, into some kind of Ocean’s Eleven. Cowriter Ted Griffin wrote the screenplay for the 2001 version of Eleven, so that makes sense.
Call this Stiller’s Six, counting his costars Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Michael Peña, Casey Affleck, and Gabourey Sidibe. Murphy, recalling his earliest roles in Trading Places and 48 Hours, plays the petty thief recruited to aid their plan. The comedy is about average (“don’t talk to me for the rest of this robbery” is one of Stiller’s lines). The heist is pretty ridiculous, but it has some great visuals in which the tower comes into play.
viewed 10/12/11 at Ritz East [PFS screening] and reviewed 10/12/11
No comments:
Post a Comment