Python Hyena
Down to Earth (2001): Dir: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz / Cast: Chris Rock, Regina King, Chazz Palminteri, Eugene Levy, Mark Addy: Lifeless comedy about bringing down to reality one's standards of living. If one's standards of living regarded viewing this film then living standards went down. Remake of Heaven Can Wait, Chris Rock plays a struggling comedian who dreams of presenting an act at the Apollo nightclub. Upon being hit by a truck he is sent to Heaven but informed that he was taken ahead of his time. They send him back in the body of a white rich man who is not very well liked. He learns that there are plans to murder him. He also falls in love with Regina King who is struggling to keep a hospital opened. Directors Chris and Paul Weitz previously made the much funnier American Pie but this garbage is a major step down and adds none of intelligence of their sexual high school romp. Their handling of the black man white man image of the hero is poorly portrayed. We are given glimpses of the white guy but he is never well established as a character. Rock is reciting his comedy act right from the standard setup right up to his eventual relationship with King. Her function is to be the love interest and nothing more. Chazz Palminteri and Eugene Levy are wasted in flat roles. Heavenly aspects fail because God doesn't make mistakes. No, the mistakes are made by the filmmakers. Score: 2 / 10
Scoval71
Young Chris Rock stars as Lance Barton in this "comedy" about a messenger who is also an aspiring comedian. He dies too soon--a heavenly mistake I will put it like that--which is rectified by giving him temporary custody of another body. The body is that of Charles Wellington, a rich older white man. I never saw this movie until the other day, although it is about 11-12 years old as I write this. I was watching Chris Rock on an Oprah Winfrey rerun promoting it. Oprah seemed to really find it hilariously funny, so I bought it. Sorry I did. It is not that funny. Well, it has a few moments here and there. And Wanda Sykes adds to those fleeting moments, but it is just not that funny. I always liked Chris Rock, but even his acting appears stilted. Perhaps he was not too experienced then. You can see that the memorized lines are just coming out of his mouth without much feeling. As I said, I now own this movie. It's on a shelf. I will never view it again. Once was enough. Perhaps I'll toss it in the trash. If you, reading this review, want it, please let me know, you can have it---free.
Electrified_Voltage
"Heaven Can Wait", the 1978 film starring Warren Beatty, is a remake of 1941's "Here Comes Mr. Jordan". 2001's "Down to Earth" is another remake of the same movie. I saw the 1978 version in 2006 and again the following year, but still haven't seen the original, though I certainly still intend to. I rented this most recent film of the three without knowing it was a remake, but knowing that the starring role was played by Chris Rock. Not every film I've seen the comedian in is very good, but I have seen him in some funny ones, such as "Lethal Weapon 4" and "Dogma". Knowing that "Down to Earth" didn't have a very good reputation, I didn't think it would be funny, but found it to be an above average comedy, which I wasn't expecting.Lance Barton is a struggling comedian who unfortunately isn't very funny onstage, due to his stage fright. When his manager, Whitney Daniels, tells him that the Apollo Theater is about to have its final Amateur Night contest before closing down, Lance is determined to land a slot at this show. However, while riding his bike at night, he is distracted by a woman on the street and doesn't see an oncoming truck until it's too late! An angel named Mr. Keyes takes him up to heaven, but it turns that out it was not the comedian's time to die, so the head angel, Mr. King, takes him back to look for a different body to put him in, before anyone knows that the person is dead. After searching for a while, one of Lance's options is Charles Wellington, III, a billionaire tyrant who has just been murdered. Lance decides to temporarily take this body, until a more suitable body is found for him, and being a totally different person than what the businessman was before, this will obviously be an awkward experience! After the intro of this film, we see Chris Rock as Lance Barton going on a rant as if he's been mistaken for a bicycle messenger, even though he really IS one, and this part certainly did make me laugh. I thought maybe this would be the funniest part, and the only one that would actually make me laugh, but I was wrong. While most of the movie isn't exactly laugh-out-loud, there were other times when I laughed, including Lance in the body of Charles Wellington, III doing his stand-up routine, and two scenes with Lance/Charles rapping in public. I also frequently smiled, and rock puts on a decent enough comedic performance to help with the humour. I didn't find Jennifer Coolidge as Mrs. Wellington very amusing, and the romantic scenes with Lance (in Charles' body) and the Sontee Jenkins character played by Regina King may be slightly flawed, but I didn't find anything in the film painfully bad (it's not an extremely juvenile gross-out comedy, you can be sure about that), and the story held my interest.I know a lot of people strongly dislike/hate this movie, and that may include many Chris Rock fans, but despite all the criticism, I cannot give the film any rating lower than six out of ten. If you ask me, even a rating of seven just MIGHT not be excessively generous, even if most of those who have seen this particular 2001 comedy would strongly disagree! Also, coming from Paul and Chris Weitz, the directors of "American Pie" (a much more popular comedy, one which I think is sometimes funny but as a whole is quite overrated), I was expecting "Down to Earth" to be far more puerile and gross than it actually is! If you're a Chris Rock fan, I wouldn't expect this to be the funniest movie you'll ever see him in, but you could still find yourself laughing at least some of the gags (that is obviously NOT a guarantee). In my opinion, this film is definitely better than "Head of State", Rock's 2003 directorial debut.
