Stand-up comic Lance Barton (Chris Rock) just can't catch a break. He's known as "Booey" for bombing out so many times at the infamous Apollo, he can't seem to get a woman and now -- on top of everything else -- he's been prematurely killed.
Or so goes the story of the new comedy Down to Earth (a remake of the 1978 Warren Beatty film Heaven Can Wait).
The trouble starts one day when, while cruising on his bicycle, Lance catches site of a beautiful woman named Sontee (Regina King). As he swivels to watch her cross the street, he's plowed over by a bus.
Enter an angel, who whisks him off to heaven (which turns out to be a funky disco).
"I've had this dream before," he says, not comprehending the seriousness of the situation.
He's soon greeted by two angels who inform Lance he's not dreaming -- he's in Heaven.
That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing (hey, he could have gone to hell), but there's one major problem: the angel watching over Lance snatched him just a moment too soon. In actuality, Lance wasn't supposed to die until 2044. Since Lance's body is already dead, the angels agree to reincarnate him in the form of another person. Lance has a small window to inhabit a body that's been recently killed but not yet pronounced dead.
They head to the home of Charles Wellington, the 15th wealthiest man in America. Wellington's body lies dead in his bathtub.
At first, Lance is completely against the idea of taking over Wellington's life.
"I can't get laughs going to the Apollo looking like this!" he complains.
He changes his mind when he discovers that Wellington has ties (though, not friendly ones) to his dream-woman, Sontee.
What follows is a series of various comedic scenes, in which Lance (not fully comprehending he is now an elderly white guy) walks into one ridiculous situation after another.
Some of the sight gags suffer because we're left to merely imagine what the people around Wellington must be thinking.
Sure, it looks perfectly normal for Rock to be on stage doing his comedy routine, but to the audience, the picture of a wealthy old white man spouting jokes about poverty just doesn't gel.
However, Rock makes up for much of the awkwardness here, giving a truly hilarious performance.
In terms of comedians, he's as gifted as they come. The film's funniest scenes come from his stand-up bits.
Down to Earth won't win any awards for artistic brilliance or great acting. But if when it comes to fun, light comedies it's plenty divine.
Grade: B
(PG-13, 95 minutes)
