Movie Review: 'Down to Earth'

It’s fun to see a great stand-up comedian like Chris Rock play a struggling, not-so-great comedian who, having been dispatched to heaven before his time, gets a reprieve on earth in the best available body at the moment — that of an old, pale plutocrat. This version isn’t as divine as the remake Heaven Can Wait or the original Here Comes Mr. Jordan. But the comic’s riffs are predictably taut, enhanced by the notion that although we see him as slim, black Rock, those around him see a lardy white guy who digs DMX’s ”Ruff Ryders’ Anthem.” B-