a remake of the 1978 warren beatty vehicle " heaven can wait " ( which in turn was a remake of " here comes mr .
jordan " ) , " down to earth " tells the tale of lance barton ( chris rock , " lethal weapon iv " ) , a young black standup comic trying to win over the audience at harlem 's apollo theater .
when he 's taken to heaven prematurely by bumbling angel keyes ( eugene levy , " best in show " ) , his only recourse is to return in another body .
he chooses that of charles wellington , the tenth richest man in the united states .
of course , wellington is not only rich , but white and 53 years old , which makes lance 's bid for closing night at the apollo , as well as his desire to woo suntee ( regina taylor , " jerry maguire " ) , a tad tricky .
the original elaine may / warren beatty script has been reworked by chris rock , lance crouther , ali leroi , and louis c .
k .
to turn beatty 's vehicle as a football player into rock 's vehicle as a comic and add some racial humor .
as directed by chris weitz and paul weitz ( codirectors of " american pie " and costars of " chuck & buck " ) , the whole affair comes off as amateur hour .
initial scenes play like filmed line reading rehearsals .
production values are shoddy .
most serious of all is the use of rock when his wellington counterpart would have been more appropriate .
this problem is clearly attributable to the fact that the old white guy is never lip or action synched when he is on screen .
rock does get the chance to do some fun schtick , such as his turnaround on wellington 's plans for a poor neighborhood hospital ( ' bullet in the head ?
you got a bed ! ' ) , but
he 's uneven when interacting with the rest of the cast .
regina taylor fares well amidst the mediocrity
as the young activist who confusedly ends up falling for the man she believed to be her nemesis .
also good is frankie faison ( " hannibal " ) as whitney , lance 's compassionate manager - the only human who 's made privy to lance 's body body switch .
chaz palminteri and levy are pretty much wasted as heaven 's ambassadors .
another " best in show
" alumnus , jennifer coolidge , is poorly used as wellington 's cheating wife ( and shown several days apart wearing the same outfit ? ! ) and greg germann ( tv 's " ally mcbeal , " " sweet november " ) continues display his sitcom roots as her lover and husband 's lawyer .
mark addy ( " the full monty " ) is sorely underutilized as cisco , wellington 's fake english butler .
stealing the show in every scene she 's in is wanda sykes ( " the chris rock show " ) as wellington 's disgruntled maid .
" down to earth " is for chris rock fans only .
all others should go rent " heaven can wait " or truly be brought down to earth .
the whole affair comes off as amateur hour shoddy mediocrity this problem is clearly attributable are pretty much wasted he 's uneven when interacting with the rest of the cast sorely underutilized