DOWN TO EARTH

Tom Meek

Like Robert Montgomery in Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait, Chris Rock, in the third cinematic adaptation of Harry Segall's play, is a mortal seized from the material world before his time. Eugene Levy dithers about as the erroneous death scheduler and Chazz Palminteri gets to stretch his goodfella muscle as the manager of Heaven, but he's no James Mason. To right the wrong, they return Rock's bike messenger/comedian hopeful to earth in the portly body of billionaire curmudgeon Charles Wellington, who has just been offed by his adulterous wife (the lip-pursing Jennifer Coolidge) and her lover (Greg Germann of Aly McBeal fame). As Wellington, Rock pursues his goal of headlining the big Apollo comedy night (though the "black man making fun of the black man" jokes don't go over too well coming out of a 53-year-old white guy), becomes an impromptu philanthropist, and falls for a public-health-care activist (Regina King) who is racially, economically, and generationally chasms away.

Directed by Chris (Chuck in Chuck and Buck) and Paul (director of American Pie) Weitz, Down to Earth is a Chris Rock comedy tour set to a nostalgic plot. It's palatable, even engaging at times, but there's too much shtick and not enough sentiment.