Starring: Chris Rock, Regina King, Chazz Palminteri, Eugene Levy
Directed by: Paul and Chris Weitz

I went into this movie completely fresh, without knowing much about it, other than Chris Rock dies and comes back as a white guy. I thought that this premise would lead to much, and I mean much, hilarity. I was somewhat wrong, apparently. While Down to Earth is very funny at times, ultimately it's a letdown.

The usually funny Chris Rock is Lance Barton, a bad standup comic. The famed Apollo theatre is closing down and there are five amateur standup slots to fill. He just met a new girl that he really likes and then�BAM! While biking down the street, he gets hit by a truck and dies. Unfortunately, there was a mix-up in heaven and Barton died before his time, so as payback, he's allowed to return to earth in someone else's body. That someone else is an old, rich, white guy.

This seems really funny, and when they stress the white black guy in the white guy's body thing, this movie is hilarious, especially when Barton, as the white guy, tries out some material for a slot at the Apollo. Unfortunately, these funny instances don't happen as much as you'd hope. You see, this movie gets really sappy. Really sappy! In fact just sitting there, the sappiness would actually jump off the screen and mess your clothes. You'd say, "Yo! Where did all this sap come from? This film was pretty funny until now." Too much moralizing going on, that's what's wrong. We're beat over the head with messages like rich people don't care about others and then we see how poor Barton turns his new, rich world upside down by bringing kindness to an unkind world. That's fine, but it's just laid on too thick for my tastes. Just play up the comedy, guys! Brian McKnight jokes are funny! Rappers in big cars are funny! Putting up your W's, that's funny! Getting sappy on us is not.

DroopyMcC
Nine

MastaCSG		Could have been funnier.
Ten