Down to Earth

We rented it and I wasn't expecting much in the first place. . It just looked like it would be another one of the endless comedies that come out every year. This one should not have been on the big screen, nor should it have gone straight to video. It was horrible!! I like Chris Rock, his stand up is hilarious, and I loved him as Nat X on Saturday Night Live, and he was good in New Jack City. But if he's going to be an actor, then do some acting. .not that it was bad, but the material was terrible.

The story was as predictable as can be. . The worst parts were when they tried to get the audience emotionally involved, they tried to get us to care about these characters. WTF? We don't want "Steel Magnolias" or "Beaches", we want Chris Rock to be funny! He wasn't. . it was LAME. Common sense would dictate that we, the audience, should see rock as the white man, and hear him as the white man, doing the stand up. THAT would have been funny.

Anyway, this was pretty damn bad. 5/10 at best.. NOT funny, just a waste of time, but thank god it was pretty short.

Lots of negative comments from people who don't like Chris Rock. Well gee, if you don't like someone the chances are you won't like what they're in! Now I happen to like Chris Rock a lot; his "Bigger and Blacker" comedy performance is damn near perfect. Also enjoyed him in "Dogma," and of course his HBO series. But this film is pretty lame, the saddest part being the under-utilization of some really talented people like Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge, completely wasted here but SO funny in "Best of Show," which also starred Levy and is incredibly funny! But "Heaven Can Wait" was a lame remake of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," the best version of the story, starring Claude Rains and Robert Montgomery. It runs on TCM from time to time and is worth seeing.

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.

From the other reviews you may already learned that this film is the second remake of 1941's HERE COMES MR. JORDAN which was remade in 1978 as HEAVEN CAN WAIT which is one of the few remakes that's better than the original. But the story takes a big nose dive with this recent remake which is more of a starring vehicle for Chris Rock than any attempt to do a decent remake of a good story. The supportting cast (Regina King (JERRY MAGUIRE), Chaz Palmenteri (A BRONX TALE) and Eugene Levy (AMERICAN PIE)) do their best to rise above this lameness but they're just reminders of their wasted talents. Another thing that p***es me off about this movie is that the filmmakers had some idea that the average moviegoer is so stupid that they had to keep being reminded that Rock's soul is inhabited in the body of a middle aged white man by switching back and forth between the two. The makers of JORDAN and HEAVEN had enough confidence in the intelligence of the audience to not to have to explain that angle to them. Another point is with Rock, who along with Pryor, Carlin, Foxx, Cosby and Kennison, is probably the best stand-up comic ever and has had a few good film moments (NURSE BETTY, NEW JACK CITY and I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA) but this film doesn't help his case (I know this movie made a lot of money. So what.) I just hope his movie career doesn't go the same path as Adam Sandler, another once funny person who now makes sucky movies. Do yourself a favor and rent HEAVEN or maybe even JORDAN and skip this turd.

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.