Down to Earth

To enjoy any fantasy comedy, the viewer must be able to suspend disbelief. It is impossible to suspend disbelief for Down to Earth.

Why do we see Chris Rock as Chris Rock, when everyone around him sees him as Charles Wellington, rich, fat white man? Why? Because the producers thought they could make more money showcasing Rock, than having us see Rock as Wellington. It ruins much of the movie's attempted humor. For example, when Rock (as Wellington) uses the "N" word, black folks who hear him become furious, and we have to remember that he is supposedly this rich, fat white man.

The film does have some funny moments, and Regina King is attractive as the love interest. It could have been really good, though.

Chris Rock is funny in this film, even if most of the rest of what he's surrounded isn't. Rock has been able to elivate films with his outstanding supporting roles including them in New Jack City, Dogma and Nurse Betty (Betty and Dogma actually getting such a boost by him they got in my top ten lists), but here, he is brought on the second time in a starring role. While he is slightly funnier here than in CB4, he isn't as good as he could've been.

What Rock stars in is a remake of a remake that is probably from a play and that might also be a flaw. Rock and his staff of writers (ie Chris Rock show) do what they can with they're script about a flawful comedian named Lance who gets sent up to heaven to early and is sent back in a body for a short while, except the body is white. While many of the scenes with Rock as Lance inside the old white guy aren't laugh out loud funny, they are interesting for me being a Chris Rock fan (seeing a man like the one Chris gets himself into telling his famous Black Mall skit had me thinking while laughing). Not always on the money, to say the least, but it isn't a waste of total time. B

Chris Rock stars in this remake of Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (itself a remake of the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan), a comedy about a man who dies before his time, before he can realize his dreams, and his adventures in his new (albeit temporary) body. In the Beatty version, the protagonist was a backup quarterback for the then-Los Angeles Rams. In Rock's hipper version, our lead character is a struggling young - and decidedly low-talent - standup comedian.

It's very funny to see the razor-sharp Rock playing a bad comedian. It's kind of like seeing Tom Hanks play a bad actor. Lance Barton's dream is to play the legendary Apollo Theater on a non-amateur night. But every time he tries out his material, he's booed off the stage lustily - so much so that his nickname becomes "Booie." His jokes are lame, his delivery painful. In short, Lance is everything that the real Chris Rock isn't.

Lance is also a bike messenger, and he's riding the streets on his way to try out even more material when BAM! He's hit by a truck. Ok, so maybe he was taken from his body a tenth of a second early by a slightly incompetent angel (Eugene Levy), but hey, he was going to get hit anyway. No dice, it appears Lance isn't due in Heaven until 2044. So what to do? Mr. King (Chazz Palminteri), the "manager" of Heaven, reluctantly agrees to find a new body for the not-quite-dead Mr. Barton. Trouble is, the body they find is of a greedy, old white man. Turns out this fella (a Mr. Wellington) owns all kinds of things - he's the 15th richest man in the country! What luck! You can imagine how Lance will turn things around.

But of course, while in the body of the affluent Mr. Wellington, Lance falls for a gorgeous hospital worker (Regina King). We males know how tough it is to find a female given our own body, but try winning one over while you're an dumpy, old white guy! And it's even worse when she's not impressed by your money.

This is Rock's first shot at a lead role, and in my opinion he performs admirably. There's still a lot of the standup comedian in him - and, of course, if he ever wants to get diverse roles, he might have to stop incorporating standup routines into the script - but this isn't really a bad thing. Rock's personality - his drive, his delivery, his demeanor, and his passion - are what fuel this film. He's clearly having a lot of fun in the role, and he seems bent on making sure you have fun watching him.

There were some funny moments in this movie, but overall I was unimpressed. I recognize that this movie is supposed to be a comedy, but it really fell short of being funny. Why did they have to bring Rock back as an old white man. The old white man really had nothing to do with the movie. Rock didn't act like an old white man. He didn't look like the old white man (at least not to the audience). He didn't even seem like he was an old white man. Yet no one really cared.

Now, I know that this is supposed to be funny, but all I really felt was embarrassed.

Chris, until you can become a real actor, go back to stand up.

Down to Earth is a sporadically funny movie starring Chris Rock. I thought the idea was creative (even though it is basically a remake of Heaven Can Wait). Rock is hilarious at times and so are some of the others. However, something is missing and I'm not sure what it is. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film and happen to be a big Chris Rock fan. It just needed a little more. You can probably wait until video to see it.