Lance is a struggling comedian who gets hit by a truck while watching Sontee, a woman he will soon fall in love with. An angel, Keys, took his life by mistake. He was supposed to die 40 years later. To make up for the mistake, another angel, King wants to give him a new body. For Lance to get a new body, someone had to die without anyone knowing that they were dead. King (head angel) found a Caucasian man (Charles Wellington), for Lance to be resurrected to. The problem is, Lance is African American so naturally he was against this. He gave in when he saw that Sontee knew Charles. He wanted to help her because the real Charles wanted to close down the hospital she worked at. He agreed to stay in Charles’s body until King and Keys found him a better body to be in. There were rules to Lance being in Charles’s body. He was supposed to only see himself when he looked in the mirror, but to the rest of the world, he would be seen as a Caucasian man. That made it hard for him to do his comedy act because made reference to his life as an African American. Lance wanted to perform at the Apollo before it closed, but he thought that he couldn’t do it if he had to live in Charles’s body.

Sontee eventually develops feelings for Charles after she realizes that he’s not the bad person she thought he was. The original Charles was married to a woman who was having an affair with one of his employees. They wanted him dead. His employees didn’t like him either and wanted him dead once Lance changes his personality. His employees that worked at the hospital that Sontee works at thought that they were going to lose their money because Charles/Lance wanted to help her. That made them decide to want to kill him. Just when Charles/Lance adjusts to his new life, King and Keys found another body for him to be in. The only problem was he would forget Sontee and the life he knew as Lance. He refused to live as someone else because Sontee fell for him, but he didn’t have a choice. King and Keys gave him the body of a rival comedian. I won’t spoil whether or not he sees Sontee again.

Plot

Surprisingly, I liked this movie. The plot is very strange, but it ended up being better than I thought. I’m not sure how I would have felt about it if it weren’t a comedy. It was saved by the comedy.

Acting

The majority of the cast did a pretty good job. I don’t really think Chris Rock was ready for a role like this. His acting wasn’t strong enough to carry the movie. Since he’s in the majority of the movie, his acting should have been better. I thought that Wanda Sykes, one of Charles’s maids, was particularly funny. I thought that she was the funniest in the movie. I had my reservations about seeing it at first, but I decided to give it a chance.

Casting

The cast was pretty must casted in the roles that they should have played. The only exception was Chazz Palminteri. I thought he did a good acting job, but I don’t think he should have been casted in this role. He didn’t fit as an angel. I’m used to seeing him play mostly bad-guy roles so it was hard to see him in a role as an angel. For an angel, he seemed pretty evil.

Questions

Here are some questions I had about the movie:

Why did Chris Rock have to play Charles?

He is supposed to be in a Caucasian man’s body, yet Chris is shown throughout the majority of the movie. I know he’s the star, but the point of the movie is supposed to be him living the life of an older Caucasian man. He was only supposed to see himself when he looked at his reflection, which he didn’t do that often.

Why didn’t anyone notice Charles’s behavior when Lance was living as Charles?

The people who knew Charles as an uptight man barely acknowledged the way he changed when Lance was living as Charles. He started using slang and he was singing rap music, but no one questions his behavior.

Why did Lance keep forgetting that he didn’t look African American anymore?

When he was in the car with Charles’s butler, he sung a rap song. He was spotted by African Americans at the time. They looked at him funny when they saw him. He told jokes about African Americans that didn’t go over well with the audience. He used the “N” word while he was out with Sontee. He should have realized that he couldn’t get away with these things since he didn’t look African American anymore.

How come we only get to see the Caucasian version of Charles when he makes a fool of himself around African Americans?

The second he did the things I mentioned in the previous question, it was predictable that he was going to look like the real Charles. When Charles looks like a good guy, you see him as Lance, but when it’s time to make a fool of himself, he looks like himself.

Why didn’t we see the relationship develop between Charles and Sontee?

You only get to see them together when he looks like Lance. It’s easy to forget that she fell for an older man when Lance was Charles would it have been the same if he looked like Charles and not Lance?

Movie Goofs

Here are a few goofs that I noticed:

When Lance and King were near a mirror, they had reflections. Since they are dead, they shouldn’t have reflections.

Charles wasn’t that tall yet when Chris Rock is playing him, he’s suddenly taller. People are looking up to him when they are supposed to see Charles.

While Lance was in Charles’s body, you can see Lance’s shadow. Since Charles was overweight, the shadow should have been bigger.