BEFORE: The theme of premature death and karmic reincarnation carries over - and the fact that this film is (essentially) also a remake, of a film I saw when I was a kid called "Goodbye Charlie", starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds. I noticed last week that premium cable was running both films, so I couldn't resist putting them together on one DVD. Linking from "Down to Earth", Chris Rock was in "Nurse Betty" with Morgan Freeman, who was in "Teachers" with Jobeth Williams (last seen in "Kramer vs. Kramer").
THE PLOT: A sexist, chauvinist pig gets his just desserts when his angry ex-girlfriends murder him and he is reincarnated as a woman.
AFTER: Funny, I was just reading in Sunday's paper about how this is the week when NYC's rivers are warm enough for bodies to start floating to the surface. Ah, spring has sprung.
Technically, it's not reincarnation, because I think under that system, you come back as a baby, or an animal, or a baby animal or something. This is more representative of a struggle between God and the devil, and the whole afterlife seems to work on some kind of point system (I KNEW it!). And when you have just as many heaven points as you do hell points, you're up for grabs, and returned to Earth in the most ironic fashion possible. Who said God doesn't have a sense of humor? Of course she does...
There was something of an opportunity here, to work with a character who's female on the outside, but male on the inside - and I can't fault the performance of Ellen Barkin (last seen in "Tender Mercies"), because she carries herself in a manner that seems appropriate for the situation. But we get zero insight into the actual (imaginary) experience of switching genders - a Hollywood version of transexuality, minus the surgery. How does it feel, how is it different?
Logically, the male person in the female body is still attracted to women - but this was made back in 1991, when you couldn't even show two women kissing in a mainstream film. So the character refuses to identify as a lesbian (would that really be so bad?) and chickens out from going all the way with a very attractive female client. Problem is, he/she's creeped out by the thought of being intimate with men too, so what's a girl to do? (Why isn't celibacy even an option? Seems to be the only logical way to proceed.)
He's sent back in a woman's body to find just one woman who liked him (as a man) - and this will tip the scales and send him to heaven. Problem was, he was a real asshole, and even as a woman, nothing much really changes in that regard. It's only a happy (?) accident that fulfills the terms of the divine challenge - and even that seems like they changed the rules at the last minute.
But hey, if you like learning obvious points about men and women - men like boobies! And women's clothes are complicated... and you like seeing people punch each other in the face when they don't know what to say or do, then this is the film for you.
NITPICK POINT: They DO make women's shoes without high heels. If you're having trouble walking, you might want to pick up a pair.
Also starring Jimmy Smits, Tony Roberts, Lorraine Bracco (last seen in "The Dream Team"), Perry King, Bruce Payne (last seen in "Passenger 57") as the devil, cameos from Catherine Keener (last seen in "The Soloist"), Michael Badalucco, Tea Leoni (last seen in "Ghost Town") and Jim J. Bullock.
RATING: 2 out of 10 billiard balls
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