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If an actor has both charisma and talent, and manages to grab the screen from bigger stars, then his own star vehicle is only a moment away. And so it is with Chris Rock, the hip, sassy, comic motormouth who (justifiably compared to Eddie Murphy) made a strong impression in the slick "Lethal Weapon 4", the messy "Dogma", and the magnificent "Nurse Betty" (in which he proved he could be unfrenzied but still funny).
However, "Down to Earth" is the kind of often antiseptic, always predictable outing which, despite the clear comic talent of Rock, will not excite the world enough so that even pensioners know his name. Rock is partly to blame, being one of four screenwriters who have based the film on Warren Beatty's "Heaven Can Wait". The directors of the remake are Chris and Paul Weitz, who made the teen comedy "American Pie" (due for a sequel out at the end of the year).
Rock plays Lance, a high-energy courier and unfunny comedian who, desperate to succeed on amateur night at the Harlem Apollo, is plucked from this world by mistake and sent to heaven where angel Chazz Palminteri rules the roost). Thanks to the incompetence of one of God's sidekicks (Eugene Levy, from "American Pie" and "Best in Show") Rock is sent back to Earth but has to occupy a new body, that of a fat, arrogant millionaire who is completely at odds with Lance's decent liberalism. The most consistent dramatic thread, in fact, is Lance's worry over how to attract the girl of his dreams while in his new guise.
The predictability and tired message (appearances don't matter) are occasionally offset by the charm and humour of the support characters (the tycoon's crisp butler and amusingly sluttish wife, for example), and always kicked into touch by the comic imagination of Rock, a skinny, wiry bundle of energy with a huge knack for delivery and timing. Even when standing still, or being quiet (rare), he looks as if he's about to explode with comedy.
Read an interview with talking about his role in "Nurse Betty".
