Down To Earth film review

certificate_12

DOWN TO EARTH

The Weitz brothers rework the classic fantasy Heaven Can Wait as a family-friendly vehicle for comedian Chris Rock.

It's an awkward fit - their leading man is synonymous with outrageous humour, whereas Down To Earth is light and inoffensive. The end result is more hellish than heavenly.

Failing stand-up Lance Barton (Rock) is killed in a road accident shortly after a disastrous gig at the Apollo Theatre. In Heaven, Lance discovers from his angel guide Keyes (Levy) that he was taken before his time and that he should still be on Earth.

Head angel Mr King (Palminteri) agrees that Lance should be sent back - in the body of white multi-millionaire Charles Wellington, the 15th richest man in America. Lance soon learns that Wellington's wife (Coolidge) is having an affair with money-grabbing assistant Sklar (Germann). And to make matters worse, he falls in love with Sontee (King), a feisty nurse with an axe to grind against the multi-millionaire.

Down To Earth is painfully long at 87 minutes, with sporadic laughs and a plot that tramples blindly from one contrivance to the next. Neutered by the 12 certificate, Rock is out of sorts and barely sparks in the stand-up scenes at the Apollo which bookend the film.

The central flaw is the direction. Chris and Paul Weitz show Wellington as the black man inside rather than the sixtysomething white man everybody else sees. So while the other characters stare on in disbelief as Wellington behaves like a young black man, we see Chris Rock behaving normally.

The disparity is pronounced when Lance goes to a comedy club (as Wellington) and trots through his usual routine of put-downs of black people. The audience reacts with extreme hostility - after all, this is a white guy insulting them - yet those same jokes, from a black comedian, would bring the house down.

An important sociological point gets lost in the mix.