After dying before his time, an aspiring black comic gets a second shot at life - by being placed in the body of a wealthy white businessman.After dying before his time, an aspiring black comic gets a second shot at life - by being placed in the body of a wealthy white businessman.After dying before his time, an aspiring black comic gets a second shot at life - by being placed in the body of a wealthy white businessman.
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
Kedar Brown
- Heckler
- (as Kedar)
Adam Dannheisser
- Doorman
- (as Adam Dannheiser)
Featured reviews
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This movie is a remake of two movies that were a lot better. The last one, Heaven Can Wait, was great, I suggest you see that one. This one is not so great. The last third of the movie is not so bad and Chris Rock starts to show some of the comic fun that got him to where he is today. However, I don't know what happened to the first two parts of this movie. It plays like some really bad "B" movie where people sound like they are in some bad TV sit-com. The situations are forced and it is like they are just trying to get the story over so they can start the real movie. It all seems real fake and the editing is just bad. I don't know how they could release this movie like that. Anyway, the last part isn't to bad, so wait for the video and see it then.
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
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
Did you know
- TriviaChris Rock was inspired to remake Le ciel peut attendre (1978) after he heard that Muhammad Ali originally pursued to star in that movie. Rock then thought that Richard Pryor would have been great in the role and changed the main character into an African-American comedian.
- GoofsIn the scene where Lance and Sontee are eating hot dogs, Sontee puts the hot dog in her mouth, then when the camera angle changes, she's bringing a whole hot dog to her mouth.
- Quotes
Lance Barton: I had a hard enough time trying to get this girl as a rich white man. Do you know how hard it's gonna be to try to get her as a broke black man?
- SoundtracksEverything Is Everything
Written & Arranged by Lauryn Hill
With additional lyrical contribution by Johari Newton
Performed by Lauryn Hill
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
- How long is Down to Earth?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $49,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $64,186,502
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $17,268,883
- Feb 18, 2001
- Gross worldwide
- $71,186,502
- Runtime
- 1h 27m(87 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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