Heaven and Back (2001)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Heaven and back
Original title Down to Earth
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2001
length 87 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Chris Weitz
Paul Weitz
script Ali LeRoi
Louis CK
Chris Rock
Lance Crouther
production Michael Rotenberg
James Jacks
Sean Daniel
music Jamshied Sharifi
camera Richard Crudo
cut Priscilla Nedd-Friendly
occupation

Once Heaven and Back (Original title: Down to Earth ) is an American comedy film from 2001 by Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz . It is a loose remake of the two comedies holiday from heaven (1943) and The Heaven Can Wait (1978) respectively on the play mistake in Heaven by Harry Segall based.

action

Lance Barton is an African - American kind-hearted but unsuccessful comedian who also works as a courier driver and whose greatest wish is to appear at an amateur evening at the Apollo Theater . But before he can fulfill his dream, he dies in a car accident and ends up in heaven . Unfortunately, he would not die until November 17, 2044, which is why the angels want to make up for their mistake and provide him with a replacement body. After a few miserable offers, he receives Charles Wellington III, who had just been murdered by his wife and his assistant. After seeing the African American Sontee Jenkins, he agrees to take over the body of the white Wellington.

Unfortunately, he didn't know what kind of hated exploiter Wellington was, so that despite all the luxuries he now has, he doesn't manage to impress Sontee. Only when he stands against his own company and thus for less profit and more humanity does he manage to get Sontee's attention. She even seems to be slowly falling in love with him, because for her Wellington is not only a rich white old man, but suddenly also a person who "has heart and shows teeth". And so, after Lance has already included his old manager Whitney in his secret, she helps him to realize his old dream of presenting a comedy show in front of a large audience at the Apollo. Unfortunately, his jokes, which he once made as an African American, now appear racist in the body of a white man and merely incite the audience against him.

The company's board of directors is also upset by the company's new philosophy of foregoing profits rather than letting people die, which is why they are very concerned with the idea of ​​having him killed. And so, after Lance managed to get one of the last seats in the final Apollo show as a white comedian, he was killed by a hit man at his own corporate charity event. But of course the angels already have a new body available. He receives the body of comedian Joe Guy, who also died in a car accident, and is allowed to appear in the Apollo for the last time. Then the angels tell him that all memories of his previous life as Lance or Wellington will be taken from him and that only his soul will be left in Joe Guy. And in the end it is this good soul that reunites him with Sontee, who has long inherited Wellington's fortune.

criticism

The film received very bad reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes website counted only 19 positive reviews of 95 professional reviews, which corresponds to a value of 20%. Also received by the general public with rather mixed reactions, because at the same time 45% of 60,600 users rated the film positively. This in turn is more than confirmed by the online film archive IMDb , another platform on which normal users can submit their film reviews, because there 10,390 users gave the film a rather poor 5.1 out of 10 possible points. (As of October 24, 2011)

The renowned film critic James Berardinelli gave the film two out of four stars and said that the story "in its third incarnation did not get better with age". And although the film has a “fascinating sociological point of view”, it is boring because of the “usual routine” and a “strangely calm and largely uncomfortable Chris Rock”, which is more due to the censorship and age rating.

For Peter Rainer of New York Magazine , Chris Rock was "the youngest victim of an unfortunate tradition" of films in which comedians play their alter egos, mainly due to Rock's poor acting, because his "blank, rigid stare" would anyone "Undermined pure comic moment".

Elvis Mitchell said in the liberal New York Times that Chris Rock used the film as a "" metaphor to show where it came from and what became of it. "And although" there is some humor in many of the ideas ", he must Rock "force himself to save himself as an actor from great insignificance", because his acting skills are far too discontinuous in this film to be convincing.

Daniel Haas said on Spiegel Online that once heaven and back is "a metaphysical film whose premise is at odds with its images" and the story is only a "framework for a couple of wonderful solo appearances by comedian Chris Rock". However, he also offers "perfect little show interludes that one could easily imagine on television, freed from the ballast of romantic comedy."

For the lexicon of international films, it was “a weak remake with an outrageous story”, as he suffered from a “fatal handicap” in particular, because for the film to work, one had to “imagine the rest of the film differently from him appears on the screen. "

background

  • Many of the jokes Chris Rock used in the film are from his 1999 stage show Bigger and Blacker .

Awards

publication

After its theatrical release on February 16, 2001, Once Heaven and Back was able to bring in 71 million US dollars worldwide, including 64 million US dollars in the United States, of its 49 million US dollar production costs. The film opened in Germany on July 26, 2001 and had 165,792 moviegoers. And since March 14, 2002, the film has been available on VHS and DVD .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Down to Earth (2001). rottentomatoes.com, accessed October 24, 2011 .
  2. ↑ James Berardinelli Down to Earth on reelviews.net (English), accessed October 24, 2011
  3. ↑ Peter Rainer: No Body But You on nymag.com (English), accessed on October 24, 2011
  4. ↑ Elvis Mitchell : Down to Earth (2001) on nytimes.com from February 16, 2001 (English), accessed October 24, 2011
  5. ^ Daniel Haas: A black is a white is a black on Spiegel Online from July 26, 2001, accessed on October 24, 2011
  6. ↑ To Heaven and Back in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used
  7. ↑ Down to Earth at boxofficemojo.com (English), accessed October 24, 2011
  8. ↑ Once to heaven and back on insidekino.de , accessed on October 24, 2011