The biggest crime in the new Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy film "Tower Heist" is the lack of comedy.

This tale of amateur crooks trying to recoup money they have swindled isn't suave enough to feel like a variation on the "Ocean's Eleven" theme or over-the-top enough to provide the kind of laughs generated in a movie like "A Fish Called Wanda."

Director Brett Ratner's indecision of whether to play this film as sentimental or silly leaves it dangling in the mid-air of mediocrity. A little more commitment either way would have been nice.

Stiller plays Josh Kovacs, the manager of the most exclusive apartment building in New York City. His world comes tumbling down when penthouse occupant Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is accused of embezzling millions, including all of the retirement funds of the hotel staff.

Kovacs decides to break into the penthouse to steal any money Shaw has squirreled away. He recruits a low-level crook (Murphy) to help with the plan.

Ratner stumbles at every turn. His pacing is so slow that the movie has neither the energy of a wacky comedy nor the tension of a crime caper. His methodical moves simply urge the storyline along.

It's hard to believe that a film can have Stiller and Murphy – two comic actors known for their bouts of frenzy – and end up so stilted. Ratner had a similar casting formula in all of his "Rush Hour" movies, and while not award-winning films, they at least had some energy.

Other that Murphy and Stiller, the film's completely miscast. Casey Affleck looks like he wandered in off the set of some darker movie and Téa Leoni is laughable – and not in a good way – as a no-nonsense FBI agent. Matthew Broderick's character of a tenant who's lost his job fits so poorly into the heist equation that it seems more like Ratner doing Broderick a favor.

The biggest casting misfire is Alda. This character needed some creepiness but Alda's so charming that his attempts to play wicked fall short.

All of this makes "Tower Heist" like a 50-story apartment with no elevator. There's little fun in climbing stairs – and no one's going anywhere fast.