(rated PG 13. 88 mins.)
A millenium version of the 70’s “Heaven Can Wait”, Chris Rock stars as Lance, an amateur comedian (the Warren Beatty football player in the original). One moment he’s here and next he’s at heaven’s door. Convinced there’s been a mistake, he is miraculously right. Chazz Palminteri is the hip New York gangster who runs Heaven, Eugene Levy as the snotty matire d’ at the heaven/hell intersection telling Lance that returning to his own body is not an option. Instead he must enter the body of an elderly millionaire who has just been bumped off (but not yet discovered) by his wife and lover plotting to kill him. Ironically, as this strange new person, Lance ultimately discovers his true self, falls in love with Suntee (Regina King in the original Julie Christy role) and improves his comedy act in the process. While it mirrors the original it manages its own merit due entirely to Chris Rock’s energy and spunk. The idea of a young black man in a white man’s body rapping in smoking jackets and golf knickers may not have the sensitivity and sophistication of the original love story. But, the idea of reincarnation and “even when you’re not you, you’re still you” (inside), works in setting its own pace for 88 minutes of comic enjoyment in a world where white bread boy meets ghetto, with a touch of Eddie Murphy’s “Trading Places”.
