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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
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for First Sunday

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    Reviews
    Tomatometer Critic Review Category
    splat
    48/100

    Jamie Gillies

    Perhaps moviegoers demand simplicity and cheap laughs more than ever during tough times, but this must be discouraging to aspiring African-American comedians and writers.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 26 2009 11:57 AM

    Apollo Guide

    splat
    .5/4

    Austin Kennedy

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

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 26 2008 12:11 AM

    Sin Magazine

    splat
    1/5

    Kevin McCarthy

    If it was not for Morgan's goofy character or Katt Williams, I would be giving this movie a zero.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 17 2008 11:39 AM

    BDK Reviews

    tomato

    Prairie Miller

    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: | comment Comment | May., 03 2008 12:08 PM

    NewsBlaze

    splat
    2/5

    Alonso Duralde

    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: | comment Comment | May., 01 2008 04:30 PM

    MSNBC

    splat
    1/5

    Phelim O'Neill

    With his movie debut, Talbert plays to his established audience, the redemption message riding roughshod over everything, even such trifling concerns as character consistency and continuity.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 10:50 AM

    Guardian [UK]

    splat
    1/5

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

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 09:46 AM

    Sun Online

    splat
    1/5

    Wendy Ide

    The least funny man ever to make a career in comedy movies, Ice Cube hauls his sullen mug back in front of the cameras for the execrable First Sunday.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 09:35 AM

    Times [UK]

    tomato
    3/5

    Ken McIntyre

    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: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 08:41 AM

    Total Film

    splat
    2/5

    Simon Jordan

    On your own day of judgement, select a better film from the listings.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 08:30 AM

    Channel 4 Film

    splat
    2/5

    Stella Papamichael

    Loretta Devine and Olivia Cole shine out as veteran members of the flock, but even their class combined is no saving grace.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 08:13 AM

    BBC

    splat

    Tim Evans

    Seasoned stars such as Loretta Devine and Regina Hall do their best...but it's an uphill struggle with a script even the good lord would rent asunder.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 05:43 AM

    Sky Movies

    splat
    2/6

    Mark Holcomb

    Grafting moral uplift on to a slapstick caper with mixed results, this nevertheless captures some of the giddy eccentricity of the Ealing comedies it haphazardly resembles.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 28 2008 04:48 AM

    Time Out

    splat
    2.5/4

    Linda Cook

    With its unlikely but sweet-natured story, 'First Sunday' is a cut above most of the "January junk" that floods the theaters this time of year.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 24 2008 10:59 AM

    Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

    splat
    1/4

    Jeffrey Westhoff

    Getting religion in the end is no excuse for a parade of bad taste.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 22 2008 12:26 PM

    Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

    splat
    1/4

    Marc Savlov

    Ice Cube is now Public Enemy Number Fun, although First Sunday is only fun if you're in dire need of a modernist urban take on the strain of comedy Abbott and Costello used to practice, which, let's be honest, wasn't that funny to begin with.

    Full Review Source: | comment 1 Comment | Feb., 01 2008 02:13 PM

    Austin Chronicle

    splat
    C

    Amy Nicholson

    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: | comment Comment | Jan., 29 2008 03:40 PM

    I.E. Weekly

    splat
    1/5

    Jim Lane

    Writer-director David E. Talbert has a fine cast...but he lets them down with a wretched, amateurish script...

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 17 2008 07:53 PM

    Sacramento News & Review

    splat
    C

    Chris Nashawaty

    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: | comment Comment | Jan., 17 2008 11:17 AM

    Entertainment Weekly

    splat

    Cynthia Fuchs

    Ice Cube's franchising of the weekdays continues with First Sunday.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 17 2008 07:57 AM

    PopMatters

     
     
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