| Director | Brett Ratner |
|---|---|
| Budget | $75 million |
| Box office | $152.9 million |
Josh Kovaks is the building manager of The Tower, an upscale apartment complex in New York City that has Wall Street billionaire Arthur Shaw as its penthouse tenant. Josh, a friend of Shaw's, has asked him to manage the staff's pensions. One day, Shaw is placed under house arrest by the FBI for masterminding a Ponzi scheme, embezzling up to $2 billion. Realizing they will lose their pensions, the staff members are distraught and the doorman Lester even attempts suicide. Josh, his brother-in-law and The Tower's concierge Charlie, and elevator operator Enrique are fired by M. Simon after angrily confronting Shaw for his scheme.
FBI agent Claire Denham drunkenly suggests to Josh that Shaw has concealed $20 million as a reserve, and that he should steal it. Josh gets Charlie, Enrique, and evicted Tower tenant Mr. Fitzhugh to help him steal the money.
They supplement their inexperience by enlisting Josh's childhood friend Slide, a petty criminal, and The Tower's maid Odessa, who has locksmith experience. Denham informs Josh that Shaw is scheduled to attend court on Thanksgiving during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to avoid publicity, so Josh and his team decide to break into Shaw's apartment then. Prior to this, Charlie is rehired as The Tower's new building manager. Uncomfortable with the plan, Charlie warns Josh to abandon it or Charlie will turn him over to the police.
Slide attempts to betray the team by reaching the safe ahead of them and taking all of the money for himself, having tricked Odessa into giving him lessons. The team intercepts him at Shaw's apartment and break down a false wall, revealing Shaw's safe which turns out to be empty. During the ensuing altercation, the group find gold underneath the paint of a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso which Shaw has displayed in his apartment, realizing that he invested his money in gold, turned it into car parts, and reassembled the car inside the apartment to hide the money in plain sight. Fitzhugh estimates the car's value at $45 million. They then decide to lower it to Fitzhugh's old apartment using a window-washing platform. Charlie rejoins the team after realizing their presence and saves Fitzhugh from falling to his death. They push the car on top of one of the elevators, and Josh finds a ledger of Shaw's illegal finances in the car's glove box, detailing the latter's long history of fraud.
Shaw and the FBI return, realizing the Thanksgiving Day court date to be part of Josh's plan. Denham notes the missing car and Shaw's hidden safe, and forfeits Shaw's $10 million bail, remanding him into federal custody until his real court date for not informing the FBI of the safe even if the safe has nothing inside it. The FBI arrests Josh's conspirators (except Slide, who somehow manages to slip away) while Denham catches up to Josh in Central Park. In the paddy wagon, Josh reveals to Shaw that he found the ledger. Shaw tries to negotiate a deal with them by giving them cash ten times the value of the gold car in exchange for their silence. Enrique reminds Shaw "We don't accept tips at The Tower."
At FBI headquarters, Denham mentions to Josh that they know about his friendship with Slide. Tower receptionist Miss Iovenko tells Director Mazin that she passed her bar exam three days before and will be Josh's attorney. She shows the FBI Shaw's ledger and tells them she will turn it over in exchange for everyone's freedom. Mazin accepts on the condition that Josh serve a minimal two-year sentence for masterminding the heist.
Slide leads the retrieval of the car from The Tower's swimming pool. Its various dismantled parts are sent to Tower employees to compensate for their lost pensions while splitting the remainder of the gold among themselves. Shaw is sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty, while Josh enters his cell with a satisfied smile slowly forming on his face.