Down to Earth (2001)

DOWN TO EARTH, yet another accomplished, late-spring suck-fest, re-
makes HERE COMES MR. JORDAN remake HEAVEN CAN WAIT and stars Chris 
Rock-- if such a slack-jawed performance can be *called* starring-- 
as a Big Apple bicycle boy and struggling stand-up act whose "called 
home" some forty years too soon.  After a quick check of the "guest 
list"-- plus the blackly comic picking of a soon-to-be-dead body-- 
Rock's character resumes mortal coiling as a rich, older, white guy.
And a *despised* white guy, we learn, whose just been "offed" by his 
wife and her business partner lover (Jennifer Coolidge and Greg Ger-
mann, both apparent alumni of the Cable Access School of Acting).  
There are *real* actors around, too, like Frankie Faison, Eugene 
Levy, and Chazz Palminteri, and hopefully all of whom earned a siz-
able chunk for their otherwise nonsensical appearances.  (Is this 
even a *movie* or just a half-hearted dress-rehearsal captured on 
film?)  I left early-- surprise!-- and am not even sure why I *at-
tended* the widely panned pic in the *first* place.  See also: Suck-
er (Re)Born Every Minute, Cinephiles As.  (Rated "PG-13"/87 min.)                           
                                                                          
Grade: W/O                                                                
                                                                          
Copyright 2001 by Michael J. Legeros                                      
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros