(2001)

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Down to Earth

To make up for his mistake of prematurely killing the promising stand-up comedian Lance Barton (Chris Rock), the Angel Keyes (Eugene Levy) temporarily puts him in the body of rich industrialist Charles Wellington III. Lance/Wellington spends a few weeks being nice to the people he had formerly mistreated. He even manages Sontee (Regina King) to change her mind about how evil he is. He buys a comedy club, keeps working on his routine, and gets the LAST spot for the LAST night at the Apollo. Eventually though, Wellington’s board of directors has enough of his niceness (opening their hospitals to the poor, etc.), and they have him assassinated. The angels give Lance his new body–which just happens to be that of Joe Guy–a young, talented black comic who’s about to crash his car. (And, who also has a spot on the Apollo’s closing night! Surprise!) Lance (as Joe Guy) delivers his routine; nobody boos! Sontee shows up afterwards. She’s inherited all of Wellington’s money. The two of them don’t realize that they’ve “met” before, but they immediately begin to hit it off.

This movie is credited as a remake of Heaven Can Wait