We've seen this before: man accidentally gets killed a millisecond before his time, and it is the duty of the angels to find him a body and reincarnate him. This time around, Lance Barton (Chris Rock) is a bicycle messenger/aspiring comedian before his untimely death. Reincarnated as "the 15th richest man in the world" and owner of his own company, Barton is determined to marry the girl of his dreams and perform at the Apollo Theater, even in the form of an old, white business tycoon. He turns the business world, along with the comedy industry, upside down in his short time in his borrowed body.

Chris and Paul Weitz directed and wrote the film as a modern, urban remake of Warren Beatty's "Heaven Can Wait," which itself was a remake of the 1941 film "Here Comes Mr. Jordan." The story, although clever, is unfortunately trite, with no new twist to warrant a remake. In fact, the screenplay is a disappointment considering the hilarious works that the two have written in the past, including "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" (2000), and "Antz" (1998).

As the first directorial effort from the duo since the enormously successful "American Pie," the comparative lack of risk-taking places the film in a pocket of mediocrity. Although I did laugh out loud, those chuckles came few and far between. Most of those moments came during the stand-up act performed by Chris Rock- not surprising, considering his accomplished comedic career. He shines on screen while delivering stand-up. When he has to act off the stage, though, he fizzles. It was easy to see that he is holding himself back for the sake of a PG-13 audience.

Even watered down, Rock is still better than most of the other actors on screen. The biggest disappointment is Eugene Levy, whose performance in this film is frighteningly similar to a previous appearance in "American Pie" except more flat and not appropriate within the context of the film.

The film starts to address the important issues of race and class in a cleverly satiric way several times, but it backs off to become a cheesy love story as soon as things start to get interesting. The reaction of others as Chris Rock acts stereotypically "black" while in the form of an old, rich white guy are priceless and draw the attention of the viewer to the different treatment of the races and what money can and cannot buy. However, those topics are dropped before any definitive or meaningful conclusion could be drawn.

Overall, the film is somewhat funny, but rather disappointing. The comedy routines are great, but if you are looking for good stand-up, watch the Chris Rock show or rent "The Original Kings of Comedy."