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Movies / On DVD / First Sunday
First Sunday

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First Sunday (2008)

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Reviews Counted:73

Fresh:10

Rotten:63

Average Rating:3.7/10

Consensus: First Sunday may have its heart in the right place, but its funny bone is dislocated.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for language, some sexual humor, and brief drug references.

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Jan 11, 2008 Wide

Box Office: $37,931,869

Synopsis: David E. Talbert makes his directorial debut with this comedy about Durell (Ice Cube) and LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan), childhood friends with a knack for getting into trouble. Despite his continual bad... David E. Talbert makes his directorial debut with this comedy about Durell (Ice Cube) and LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan), childhood friends with a knack for getting into trouble. Despite his continual bad decisions, Durell gets one thing right: he's a good father to his adolescent son. When he learns that the boy's mother, his ex-girlfriend, Omunique (Regina Hall), needs $17,000 to buy her beauty shop or she'll leave Baltimore and move to Atlanta, he's determined to get her the money to keep his son in his life. Meanwhile, LeeJohn needs big money fast to pay off some bad guys. Durell and LeeJohn decide that the collection plate of their local church holds the answer to their money woes. But their attempt to rob the church is foiled in progress: the money is already missing, and the would-be burglars didn't realize there would be people at the church. Finding themselves with a group of parishioners and choir members at their mercy, Durell and LeeJohn have to make some decisions about exactly what kind of men they want to be. FIRST SUNDAY also makes a statement about the role of the church in urban areas and its importance within the community. Keith David is Deacon Randy, who has grandiose plans for moving the church to a "less urban" neighborhood. Chi McBride stars as Pastor Mitchell, and Malinda Williams is his strong-willed daughter, Tianna, who wants First Hope Community Church to stay right where it is and expand its services. Loretta Devine is Sister Doris, the parish secretary and foster mother with a heart of gold. Ice Cube and Morgan have good rapport as the bickering buddies, with Morgan's silliness providing loads of comic relief, but Katt Williams is the scene-stealer as Rickey, the flamboyant choir director with something to say about everything and everyone. [More]

Starring: Ice Cube, Katt Williams, Tracy Morgan, Loretta Devine

Starring: Ice Cube, Katt Williams, Tracy Morgan, Loretta Devine, Michael Beach, Keith David, Regina Hall, Malinda Williams, Chi McBride

Director: David E. Talbert

Director: David E. Talbert
Screenwriter: David E. Talbert
Producer: David E. Talbert, David McIlvain, Tim Story, Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez
Composer: Stanley Clarke
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Release:

May 6, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan are two thieves who haven't got a prayer in FIRST SUNDAY, a sinfully, funny comedy co-starring Katt Williams and Chi McBride. Sentenced to 5,000 hours of community service, Durell Jefferson's (Cube) life quickly goes from bad to worse. Realizing that the Lord helps those who help themselves, he eventually decides to help himself to the neighborhood church's building fund. Accompanied by his dimwitted partner-in-crime LeeJohn (Morgan), the two down-on-their-luck men are dismayed to discover the cash has already been stolen, so they hold the congregation hostage in a Hail Mary attempt to learn who amongst the righteous has already run away with their loot! Also starring Tiffany New York Pollard, Rickey Smiley, Loretta Devine and Malinda Williams.
  • Source: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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    Reviews for First Sunday

    • T-Meter Critics
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    1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
    Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
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    In First Sunday, Ice Cube departs a bit from the upright-citizen persona, playing a man driven to crime by desperate circumstances.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    A.O. Scott
    A.O. Scott
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    This heist comedy has a hackneyed introduction, and its feel-good ending lacks credibility, but the big, funny chunk in the middle marks writer-director-producer David E. Talbert as a talent to watch.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    Andrea Gronvall
    Andrea Gronvall
    Chicago Reader

    As tired as First Sunday is, and as shamelessly as it grovels for laughs, there's a hint of sweetness, and [director] Talbert clearly has a feel for Baltimore, where most of it was affectionately shot.

    Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    Ann Hornaday
    Ann Hornaday
    Washington Post

    First Sunday isn’t the most refined moviemaking you’ll ever see, but it gives 2008 cinema a perfectly humane start.

    Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
    01/16/08
    Armond White
    Armond White
    New York Press

    First Sunday is harmless, church-approved optimism with just enough bawdy behavior to keep general audiences attentive to the lessons on right and wrong and urban fatherhood participation. It's medicine, but it's far more agreeable than I expected.

    Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    Brian Orndorf
    Brian Orndorf
    eFilmCritic.com

    The film, written and directed by urban theater circuit playwright David E. Talbert, is far from polished, but it has a rambunctious energy that's hard to resist.

    Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
    01/11/08
    Colin Covert
    Colin Covert
    Minneapolis Star Tribune

    If there's a God, First Sunday will be the last of its kind for Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan, who deserve better than this wannabe screwball comedy about small-time crooks knocking over a church.

    Full Review Source: E! Online | comment 1 Comment
    01/11/08
    Dezhda Gaubert
    Dezhda Gaubert
    E! Online

    Cube's maudlin, overly precious relationship with his son hits a few sour notes, but Morgan's rubbery, half-crazy Leejohn always drags the film back into its manic, cartoony groove.

    Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
    03/28/08
    Ken McIntyre
    Ken McIntyre
    Total Film

    Morgan butchers me every time with that overemphatic- delivery thing that makes incidental lines multiplex-leveling funny.

    Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
    01/08/08
    Nick Pinkerton
    Nick Pinkerton
    Village Voice

    Devilish satire outing felons who come in gaudy three piece suits too, a sweltering church 'hotter than Satan's toenails' and Sunday sermon sidebars that all the rest makes go down easy.

    Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
    05/03/08
    Prairie Miller
    Prairie Miller
    NewsBlaze

    Tired, unfunny comedy with Ice Cube as a bungling crook.

    Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
    03/28/08
    Sun Online

    The missing-church-funds subplot will be easily figured out by any four year old, but it winds up being a McGuffin anyway.

    Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment Comment
    05/01/08
    Alonso Duralde
    Alonso Duralde
    MSNBC

    Talbert's unable to pin down exactly what kind of movie he wants to make, a slapstick sermon or an urban tragicomedy?

    Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
    01/29/08
    Amy Nicholson
    Amy Nicholson
    I.E. Weekly

    ...didn't pry so much as a giggle from my lips until 42 minutes in...

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    Andy Klein
    Andy Klein
    Los Angeles CityBeat

    This movie fails as a comedy, a drama, a morality play, and as a coherent motion picture. Awful stuff!

    Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
    08/26/08
    Austin Kennedy
    Austin Kennedy
    Sin Magazine

    In addition to the faulty premise, which effortlessly lends itself to writer / director David E. Talbert's preachy agenda, the movie just plain isn't funny.

    Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    Bill Clark
    Bill Clark
    FromTheBalcony

    Everything here is overly simplified for easy digestion -- dialogue, jokes, characterization, storyline, and payoff

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    Bill Gibron
    Bill Gibron
    Filmcritic.com

    A near-claustrophobic comedy that manages to be both predictable and preachy.

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    01/07/08
    Brian Lowry
    Brian Lowry
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    First Sunday is a movie about forgiveness that asks its audience to forgive too much -- with regard to both its characters and its makers.

    Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment Comment
    01/11/08
    Chris Kaltenbach
    Chris Kaltenbach
    Baltimore Sun

    If Tyler Perry ever wanted to turn Dog Day Afternoon into a treacly after-school special, it would probably end up looking a lot like this.

    Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
    01/17/08
    Chris Nashawaty
    Chris Nashawaty
    Entertainment Weekly
     
     
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