Unfunniest comedy of the year? (Down to Earth (DVD))

Member Name: Flibble

Product:	Down to Earth (DVD)
Date:	24/09/01 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Passes time

Disadvantages: Poor script, Very very average script, Much better films of this genre out there

Those of you who read my reviews about films on a regular basis will know that I generally write about the movies I’ve seen and ones that I think deserve a wider audience sometimes. Ones I’d urge you to check out – Down to Earth is the exception to that rule I’m afraid/

This film however (along with my ‘The bachelor’ review) should be used as a dire warning to everyone out there – avoid this film at all costs, don’t waste your time or money on this so-called ‘comedy’.

Down to Earth is a remake (Heaven can wait) of another remake (Here comes Mr.Jordan) and with this latest incarnation it just doesn’t work I’m afraid. The jokes just aren’t funny – and for a comedy I’d say that’s a bit of a bad thing.

The premise of ‘Down to Earth’ is as follows: Lance Barton (Chris Rock: A.I, Nurse Betty, Dogma) is by day a bicycle courier and by night an amateur stand-up comedian, but not a very good one at that. After the latest audience lamenting he decides to head home, as he starts on his way home he is distracted by Sontee (Regina King who some of you may recognise from Enemy of the state of Jerry Maguire). The upshot being that Lance is hit by a truck and killed there and then.

Before he knows it Lance is in heaven – a heaven that is managed by Chaz Palminteri (Usual Suspects, Analyze This) with Eugene Levy (American Pie) as his right-hand man. Initially Lance refuses to accept his death, checking up on some paperwork it turns out that Lance has indeed died prematurely. In order to make amends he is sent back ‘hence Down To Earth’ but seeing as how everyone knows he has died he needs to return as a yet undiscovered corpse.

This is where the ‘twist’ of the movie comes in to play. Lance has to adopt the part of Charles Wellington III, a cold, money grabbing man who is more concerned with t
he next buck than the people who’s lives he affects. Next we have the typical ‘black man inside white guys body’ jokes that just don’t work – he tries to be all hip and cool, enjoy rap music etc. but it just looks plain bad, not funny I’m afraid. Scenes such as this just don’t seem to work – nobody in the audience laughed out loud once during the 90 minutes we endured – that speaks volumes in itself.

Through further chance encounter it turns out that Charles Wellington is going to demolish a local hospital in a deprived neighbourhood – and guess who’s running the campaign against this – yes, that’s right it’s the return of Sontee again. This sets off the whole ‘it’s what’s inside that counts’ storyline as Lance tries to convince Sontee that he’s a good guy after all. The other plot involves Lance/Charles trying to get one last gig at the Apollo theatre before it is demolished, this involves numerous sets of him practising jokes and generally trying to be funny – the only problem being that he isn’t.

So what’s wrong with the movie? The basic outline sounds promising enough but the jokes just fell flat for me I’m afraid. Rock tries to carry the movie off himself but he just doesn’t seem up to the task – I noticed that many members of the audience felt the same as me when leaving this film, so I don’t think it was just me who didn’t find the film entertaining either. Other cast members do the best they can to work with the script but all in all they just can’t save this movie from the poor showing that it is.

Not even worth a rental, please, do yourself a favour and avoid at all costs!

Summary: