"Down To Earth" -- Fall from Grace by Homer Yen (c) 2001
Here's a little bit of film history. In 1941, a well-received film called "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" was released, which told the story of a boxer who accidentally dies before his time and is reincarnated in the body of a murdered millionaire. Decades later in the late 70s, "Heaven Can Wait" was released, which told the story of an NFL quarterback who accidentally dies before his time and is reincarnated in the body of a murdered millionaire. Now, we have "Down to Earth," which tells the story of a comic that accidentally dies before his time and yada, yada, yada.
This tepid little reincarnation of two arguably much better films focuses on struggling comic, Lance Barton (Chris Rock). His ultimate goal is to perform at the Apollo theatre without getting booed off the stage. But he is prematurely sent to Heaven. Too bad for Lance. Now, he'll never get to make that appearance and he won't be able to meet that cute girl that he saw crossing the street.
Even Heaven makes a mistake now and then. Yet, while he can be returned among the living, he can't have his old body back. That's just the way it goes, and with the help of two Angel chaperones (Eugene Levy and Chazz Palminteri), they help Lance look for a new one to inhabit.
Lance finally settles on the body of billionaire Charles Wellington after discovering that he is the object of attention of that aforementioned cute girl. He not only gets a rare second chance to make good on his unfulfilled dreams of stardom but also gets the opportunity to affect some positive changes on the lives that he touches.
There's no burst of creativity here. You'll also be disappointed with its screenplay, which is unforgivingly underdeveloped. One of its two major sins is that there are too many elements that are left dangling. Foremost is the fact that Lance-as-Wellington, along with his money and power, can really do some good. But, everything that he says and does seems to be just an excuse to test out his comedic material. At a board meeting regarding the privatization of a community clinic, for instance, he enters a Johnny Cochrane state-of-mind. "If he's shot in the head; give him a bed. If he's bloody; he's our buddy," he riffs to the dismay of the greedy stakeholders. This is funny material that establishes Rock's comedic presence. But, it doesn't take the movie anywhere. Why can't he make those white-collared pruneheads see the error of their ways?
A more shameful sin, though, is its lack of funny moments. Rock has three or four decent sequences that make us smile. It's cute watching Lance-as-Wellington (who is seen as a white, portly, balding, 50-year old man) sway to rapper DMX and 'act black' in Harlem. But the film spends too much time making Rock, whose acting seems amateurish, into a romantic leading man. Part of the problem also lies in the fact that this film is rated only PG-13 while the amiable comic with eyes-bigger-than-a-cue-ball and teeth-as-bright-as-a-flashlight does his best stuff in an R-rated environment. Here, he looks desperate to utter the "F" word. What we get here is a manic comic that is unfairly restrained, a story that has too many loose ends, and a film that only Chris Rock fans would really enjoy.
Grade: C S: 1 out of 3 L: 2 out of 3 V: 1 out of 3
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