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Down to Earth (2001)
28May2008 Filed under: chris brown Author: admin
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
A tepid reworking of Warren Beatty’s Heaven Can Wait (itself a remake of 1941’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan), Down to Earth tries to mold comedian Chris Rock into an amiable romantic lead, but it softens the scathingly observant humor that made Rock a standup successor to Richard Pryor. Rock’s aggressive style is bracingly expressed in a few good scenes, but through most of this movie–from the directors of American Pie–he struggles with dialogue that would barely pass muster in a low-rated sitcom. Edgy potential loses out to crowd-pleasing with the familiar body-switch formula: by way of premature death and bad timing on the part of heaven’s Vegas-styled gatekeepers (played by Eugene Levy and Chazz Palminteri), Rock–as struggling comedian Lance Barton–is reincarnated as a 55-year-old white billionaire with a nasty reputation.Adjusting (too easily) to his racial transition, Lance charms a hospital administrator (Regina King) who’s amazed to see the selfish white billionaire turning into romantic philanthropist. This allows plenty of black/white-contrast jokes (did you ever see a fat, middle-aged white guy who’s into hip-hop?), and Rock, who cowrote the screenplay, still manages to work some pointed politics into the movie’s good-natured tone. It’s guaranteed that some will find Down to Earth quite entertaining, but others will wonder how potent this comedy could have been if Rock had been more willing to confront the harsher truths that lurk beneath the humor. –Jeff Shannon
Product Details
- Actors: Chris Rock, Regina King, Chazz Palminteri, Eugene Levy, Frankie Faison
- Directors: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
- Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: English, French
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating:
- Studio: Paramount
- DVD Release Date: July 10, 2001
- Run Time: 87 minutes
- ASIN: B00005JH9O
3 Responses to “Down to Earth (2001)”
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admin
05月 28th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
By speed_on_wheelz
Comedian Lance Barton (Chris Rock) makes a fool of himself on stage one night and gets booed off. When biking home that night, he accidentally gets hit by a truck and is sent to heaven. In heaven, he gets the opportunity to go back `down to earth’, only in someone else’s body. To Lance, when he looks in the mirror, he sees himself, but when other people see him, he’s Charles Wellington, the most richest man on earth, and the most unliked by everyone. Lance sees this and during his stay on earth, tries to make peace. One thing leads to another, and he gets the girl Sontee Jenkins (Regina King), who at the beginning was mad at Charles (Lance) for not caring about hospitals (or something along those lines). This film also stars Jennifer Coolidge as Charles Wellington’s wife, and Wanda Sykes as the maid Wanda. Wanda was so funny in every scene she was in. So was Jennifer. Everything they did was so natural!
admin
05月 28th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
By Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle)
This is a disappointing remake of a remake. Chris Rock is an extremely funny guy, except in this movie. He has a pallid script with which to work that does not let his humour shine through, except for infrequent glimpses. He is unable to carry this torpid film. Though he tries, he is hampered by the lack of chemistry between him and his female co-star, in addition to a bad script. It is just doesn’t work overall, though not for lack of trying. Chris is a funny guy, but when it comes to films, he has yet to prove that he can carry one
admin
05月 28th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
By J. Brittman “The Bottom Line” (Long Island, New York)
I really like Chris Rock and have been a big fan ever since I saw him in “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” More recently his show on HBO has been a weekly source of hilarity for me. Down to Earth is a poorly made, thrown together piece of cinema. Most of the laughs in the film you have already seen by viewing the trailers or tv commercials. It’s pretty obvious the Rock toned down his usually outlandish style in order to appeal to white mainstream audiences. The result is highly unsuccessful. Not only is the movie not funny, its just plain boring. Made by any other comedy actor (except Jim Carey), Down to Earth would have been a passable rental but I’ve just come to expect a lot more from Chris Rock. This is cable fare at best.