Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Judd Hirsch, Tea Leoni, Stephen Henderson, and Gabourey Sidibe star in "Tower Heist" from 2011.

It's a caper movie, and it's a light and fun one. Stiller as Josh Kovaks manages an exclusive apartment building, The Tower (like Trump Towers). He finds out that he and the other employees have fallen victim to a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by a tenant, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). After Josh nearly destroys the incredibly expensive car that Shaw has on display in his apartment, he and everyone else are fired.

Determined to take Shaw down, they learn that he kept about $20 million mad money and decide it's in his safe. They decide to rob him. Kovaks recruits a thief he knows, Slide (Eddie Murphy) to help. Meanwhile, the FBI, in the person of Tea Leoni, has arrested Shaw but it looks as if they might have to drop the charges.

Caper movies seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but there's always room for one more good one. The cast here is super talented and while it's not the most original script, there are some fun things in it.

Matthew Broderick, Gabourey Sidibe, and Eddie Murphy are especially funny. It's a shame Eddie Murphy's career took a nose dive; he's no less talented than he used to be.

With the Macy's Day Parade, particularly Snoopy in the background, Matthew Broderick hanging by a rope, Gabourey Sidibe running her trolley into a guard and knocking him out, you'll have a good time. Just don't expect Citizen Kane.

Tower Heist concerns the robbery of palatial skyscraper apartment of a Bernie Madoff like character who lives at the very top and lives quite well. Alan Alda plays the robbery victim in this case, although what's being done to him is nothing compared to what he's done to thousands of others.

Ever since MASH finally reached the end of the road, the former Hawkeye Pierce, one of the most sensitive souls ever created for the big and small screen, Alan Alda has played some of the nastiest no good SOBS around. In addition to Tower Heist check out his work in Murder at 1600 and The Aviator. Anyway as this ersatz Bernie Madoff, Alda is quite a piece of work.

And this piece of work also scammed the staff of his building out of their pension funds. A lot of people invested all their money with him and a lot of lives are ready to be broken. It's at this point that Ben Stiller conceives of the idea to rob the Alda penthouse to get at whatever hidden assets Alda might have salted away. And he recruits quite the staff to help with Casey Affleck, Michael Pena, Gabourey Sidibe, Stephen Henderson and most interestingly of all recently dispossessed tenant Matthew Broderick.

Who next to Alda has the most interesting character in Tower Heist. Broderick is also a former Wall Street player who didn't rise as high as Alda. In fact he's crashed and burned and can't wrap his mind around that concept. He's along for his expertise on hiding assets.

And this group of amateurs need a professional thief which is where Eddie Murphy comes in. He and Stiller are a pair of childhood acquaintances whose lives took divergent paths. But they do need him now. One of the best sequences in the film involves Murphy giving the rest an opportunity to make their bones as thieves in a mall.

Tower Heist is not a great film, but it's fast paced and funny and in these days who doesn't like seeing a Wall Street big-shot get what's coming to them? Let's say that Alda has chosen one interesting place to salt away his rainy day assets and what our intrepid band of thieves have to do get it out of the apartment provide most of the laughs in Tower Heist.

Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) is the dedicated manager of a high class highrise in NYC. Financier penthouse resident Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is arrested for a Ponzi scheme and he lost the employees' pension fund. Josh feels responsible since he asked Shaw to handle the funds. Doorman Lester tries to commit suicide after giving all of his savings to Shaw. Josh, Charlie (Casey Affleck) and Enrique (Michael Peña) go to confront Shaw. Josh smashes Shaw's Steve McQueen car and general manager Simon (Judd Hirsch) fires all 3 men. FBI Special Agent Claire Denham (Téa Leoni) is in charge of the case and tells him that they still haven't found Shaw's $20 million safety money. With Charlie, Enrique, penniless tenant Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick) and thief Slide (Eddie Murphy),Josh intends to steal Shaw's hidden cash. Then they need a safecracker and Josh remembers tower employee Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe).

It's a passable caper movie but it doesn't get any laughs until Eddie Murphy arrives. Brett Ratner doesn't have the edge as a director to make this better. Ben Stiller is lukewarm as the leader which is fine since he's the straight man. The rest of the crew doesn't have enough life. The roles of Charlie and Enrique are probably better off in the hands of comedians. Broderick doesn't add enough either. It's a movie that is just good enough but not much more.