Down to Earth (2001)

Nice effects though.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

How is this so highly rated? I love Chris Rock and that's why I went to see it but I was so disappointed, if it hadn't had been raining I would have walked out.Chris Rock doesn't seem to understand what the film is about. He is supposed to be playing a unfunny Black comedian reincarnated back into a white businessman who has just been bumped off by his wife and assistant. Even in a comedy you have to bring some sense of reality to make the humor work. His character doesn't change; he continues to act like a black guy, and not just any one but himself, Lance. Of course that's what you'd do…your given a second chance, for no good reason other than heaven making an administrative error, and you use that most precious gift to continue acting in the same dumb way you did before. Why does heaven give him a second chance other than the weak plot demands it? Lance doesn't do anything special to deserve it in his previous life; he just seems to take it for granted he is entitled to it. He never listens to anyone else or any advice, he just talks over everyone in his own self centered pursuit of a woman he glimpsed ten minutes ago.The point of view was all wrong, if it was supposed to be funny seeing a middle-aged white guy talking like a bad black comedian then that's what we should have seen on screen, not Rock except in very brief flashes. The reincarnated Lance shows no sense of having gone through the biggest change anyone can make other than changing sex. There is no awareness of his situation at all. We are supposed to despise the ruthless business man but Rock is an equally irritating replacement character with a different but just as selfish moronic single mindedness in getting the girl. The idea of a young attractive black girl being genuinely in love with a paunchy, balding and pretty ancient old man and kissing him passionately on screen would have just been stomach turning and I am at least glad Rock wouldn't let the cameras stray off him for that.Rock just didn't do anything to make it work. He created an unsympathetic selfish character who acted oblivious to his own situation and the reactions of everyone around him. But worse, he just wasn't funny, which let's face it most of us had gone to see.

Chris Rock, apparently desperate for a cozy star-vehicle which would cross his appeal over to white and mainstream black audiences, updates the hit 1978 comedy "Heaven Can Wait" with an urban agenda. He plays a struggling comedian involved in a car accident who has his soul removed too soon from his body--consequently, his angels must find another body to place him in, and can only come up with that of a white businessman. Rewriting a movie as bland and sentimental as "Heaven Can Wait" only shows that Rock's eye was on the box-office (this was strictly a corporate move organized by the most mercenary of Hollywood players). Why not strive for something loftier or more memorable than a silly reincarnation comedy that culminates with an Evening at the Apollo? Terrific supporting cast (including the usually-reliable Regina King, the wonderful Mark Addy, Wanda Sykes, Eugene Levy, and terrific Frankie Faison) do what they can, but Rock seems awkward and unsure of himself throughout. *1/2 from ****

i thought the movie was good enough but the ending was one of the poorest i have ever seen. when i saw the end i couldn't believe it was the end.i thought the movie was good enough but the ending was one of the poorest i have ever seen. when i saw the end i couldn't believe it was the end.i thought the movie was good enough but the ending was one of the poorest i have ever seen. when i saw the end i couldn't believe it was the end.i thought the movie was good enough but the ending was one of the poorest i have ever seen. when i saw the end i couldn't believe it was the end.i thought the movie was good enough but the ending was one of the poorest i have ever seen. when i saw the end i couldn't believe it was the end.

this is one of the only films that i've actually left the cinema because it was so bad.the others were, just in case you're interested, the others were 1:"deep impact" - so boring i had to leave and 2:"dude, where's my car?" - you can only listen to "sweet","dude" for so long. and besides i dislike that guy from "that 70s show". chris rock is a one trick pony, while admittedly that trick can be funny, you cant base an entire film on it. (the whole black vs white thing). i think chris rock needs a partner in his films to rein in his ranting. well that's all i have to say but i'm being forced to finish this 10 lines rule. sorry ......... ............ ........... ............... ........ .......... ...... ......... ......... ........... ......... ...... ....