'Tower Heist' and 'Harold & Kumar Christmas' bring comedy front-and-center

By Sarah Sluis

A comedy about huckstered ninety-nine percenters taking revenge on the one-percenter in their building? With Occupy Wall Street bringing income inequality back into the headlines, Tower Heist (3,367 theatres) appears perfectly poised to take advantage of its topicality. Some estimate the movie could pull in $30 million this weekend. Reviews have not been entirely unkind. Critic Daniel Eagan echoes the sentiments of many other critics when he calls it a "broad" comedy with "crowd-pleasing" elements. It's ultimately "undemanding," but that's the definition of escapist entertainment. The unlikely group of cast members includes Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, and "Precious" star Gabourey Sidibe. However, they don't gel together: "No one character truly takes control," Eagan complains, making the comedy a "downscale Ocean's Eleven."

Ring the sleigh bells! A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2,875 theatres) has found a positive perch with many critics, who as a rule are unlikely to root for a stoner comedy directed at teen boys. Critic Doris Toumarkine sparked to the comedy's liberal politics, which she says will appeal to anti-tea partiers. The 3D, too, features "clouds of pot smoke billowing towards audiences," which may be enough to fill the 2,943 3D screens and ensure the 1,000 midnight showings are packed. Toumarkine predicts this "comedy gift...assures more life for the franchise."

The Son of No One (10 theatres) is one of those movies with an all-star cast that ended up being not very good. Anchor Bay will give it just a blip release theatrically, then thousands of people will assume the "policier" with the cast list of "Al Pacino, Katie Holmes, Channing Tatum..." is a big-name movie they just haven't heard about when they hit "play" on Netflix. How wrong they will be, especially given critic David Noh's negative review, which calls the movie "obvious and wholly unconvincing" as well as "an unintentional spoof of Reservoir Dogs."

Aging punk rockers discuss the difficulties of explaining their R-rated tattoos to their kids in The Other F Word (NYC), which Noh calls a "hilarious investigation" into punk dads. Another documentary, Charlotte Rampling: The Look (2 theatres), offers an "admiring" peek into the life of the legendary actress with plenty of "movie talk" for cinephiles, according to Noh.

On Monday, we'll see if Tower Heist enticed the ninety-nine percenters to the box office and if young male viewers were enticed to leave their couches and have some early Christmas cheer for Harold & Kumar.