Down To Earth Details

Robert Montgomery and Warren Beatty played the dead guys who came back from beyond in other people's bodies in the two earlier versions of this hardy Hollywood perennial, Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). Third time round it's rising black comic Chris Rock who's “reincarnated”, as an unfunny stand-up comedian is taken before his time and has to be returned to earth by Mr King (Chazz Palminteri, playing God's right-hand man like a Mafia consiglieri). Trouble is, the comedian's original body has been cremated, and the only readily available alternative has just been vacated by a fat-cat white businessman who's been bumped off by his wife and her lover. Rock tries hard — too hard at times. But both he and the film lack the charm of their predecessors. Also, Rock doesn't yet have true leading-man charisma. He remains better suited to spunky sidekick turns where he has someone to spark off, as he did against Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop II and, more recently, against Morgan Freeman in Nurse Betty. Down to Earth isn't a bad film. Chris Rock fans will probably quite like it. But this cross-race retread underachieves in most departments, bringing Mr Rock's leading-man ambitions back down to earth with a bang.

Feeble comedy that wastes Rock's talents and does not compare to the two earlier versions of the same story; it lacks finesse and style.