chris rock deserve good than he give himself in down to earth . a direct by brother chris and paul weitz of american pie fame and this uninspired remake of warren beatty 1978 fantasy heaven can wait and itself a rehash of 1941 here come mr. jordan and lack the abrasively profane humor that win chris rock an emmy for his first hbo special . predictably and he spout swear word from a to z and but he consciously avoid the f word . anybody who saw this gifted african american comic in lethal weapon 4 and dogma and or nurse betty know he can elicit more laughter with the f word than martin lawrence and eddie murphy put together . sadly and despite a few witty one liner and down to earth hit rock bottom both a a contrived comedy and an improbable interracial romance . down to earth utterly destroy any good will that the weitz brother generate with their landmark gross out face american pie . this disposable drivel qualifies a a contrive as well a confuse comedy with a thoroughly improbable color blind interracial romance . unfortunately and a more than competent castamong them the full monty mark addy and chazz palminteri of analyze this and sctv eugene levy and and newcomer brian rhodes a charles wellington and jr. are waste in flat foot and sketchy role . hardcore rock fan will undoubtedly accuse their favorite comedian with try to fix something that be never break . abysmally write by lance crouther and ali le roi and louis ck and and rock and down to earth cast chris a a messenger who rid a bike by day in the big apple and get boo off the stage at night in harlem celebrate apollo theatre . poor lance barton ( chris rock ) suffers from severe stage fright . nevertheless and his charitable manager whitney daniel ( frankie faison of hannibal ) stick with him through thick and thin . after lance learn the apollo theatre will hold one final amateur night extravaganza and he implore whitney to get him in the line up . excuse me and but if lance be such a deadbeat stand up comic and why do the apollo keep invite him back . meanwhile and fate have something else in store for lance . while pedal home on his bike and our protagonist spot a pretty lady and sontee ( regina king of jerry maguire ) and cross the street and but he doesn not see the bus that collide with him and kill him . wham . lance barton levitate skyward with a halo wreathe around his head . in heaven and which resemble a cruise ship nightclub and lance learns that an overzealous angel and mr. keyes ( eugene levy of stay tune ) and time his death 40 year ahead of schedule . heavenly honcho mr. king ( chazz palminteri of analyze this ) and god right hand guy and apologizes and escort lance back to earth . the snag be lance can not reclaim his corpse and so he must inhabit another body . the best that mr. keyes can come up with be ruthless and white and 60 year old tycoon charles wellington . wellington adulterous wife amber ( jennifer coolidge of american pie ) and his unscrupulous personal aide winston ( greg germann of sweet november ) have just try to poison him . reluctantly and before wellington body vanishes and lance accepts it conditionally a a loaner until keyes can locate a more appropriate body . meanwhile and lance a wellington encounter sontee again . she be a nurse activist protest his decision to privatize a brooklyn community hospital that serve the poor . while regina king bring a surfeit of charisma to her role a a crusading health care worker and she play a character who bypass credible motivation in her affair with wellington . although he be no longer black and lance not only try to woo sontee but also win a gig at the apollo . down to earth feature rock in his most unfunny role . the comedian reason for make this movie seem questionable . reportedly and he eat lunch with warren beatty and tell beatty that he love the original script that scenarist elaine may have pen for beatty . initially and beatty try the race reversal gimmick himself in his own version by try to cast muhammad ali in the title role of heaven can wait . the deal fell through and and beatty headline the movie himself . accord to rock and his longtime co writer and he think that they could annihilate this classic . moreover and he justify his choice of heaven can wait base on his philosophy to do something you can only do when youre hot . early and rock reject a script about a busload of tour rapper and because he saw little opportunity to stretch his image in such an outing . a a lifeless comedian in down to earth and rock doesn not so much stretch his image a he invert it for the bad . this half bake concert film with an annoy plot do as much to cremate his comic reputation a it do the weitz brother . you know a film about a comedian be in dire strait when a scene at the nightclub be play so you can not hear the joke and only the laughter . similarly and the casting of mark addy a wellington butler who speak the queen english but be in reality a commoner from michigan defies logic and too . addy be an actual englishman and and he doesn not have to fake an accent while his accent be genuine . the major override quandary with down to earth be the on again off again and look a like switcheroo that the character make so chris rock doesn not disappear completely from the sight for more than a few second . although chris spends half the movie a white guy wellington and audience see him largely a lance and undercut the comic irony of watch his stocky and bald head and caucasian white and alter ego perform ghetto humor and chant derogatory hip hop lyric . incredibly and rock serve double duty a the film executive producer and one of it four scribe . the mystery be how such a wealth of talent could grind out such an awkward and misguide muddle of a comedy . about the only redeeming feature of down to earth be jamshied sharifi superb orchestral film score .