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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.

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Comedies

US 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

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for First Sunday

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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

With plot holes the size of boulders, it's a bad effort at wacky humor and schmaltzy redemption that plods and preaches gratingly.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
01/11/08
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
01/17/08
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

...about as funny as a bad sermon.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
01/11/08
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Comedies don't have to be high in class as long as they are funny, entertaining and do not treat their audience like imbeciles. First Sunday fails all three of these qualifications.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
01/10/08
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

Though Ice Cube and Morgan should make an ideal team, neither seems particularly comfortable grappling with Talbert's amateurish script.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
01/11/08
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

As if Tyler Perry's own films weren't bad enough, now we have to contend with ill-begotten rip-offs of them? Heaven help us.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
01/10/08
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

For a movie that's filled with so many talented comedians, it's shocking that First Sunday is only sporadically funny.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
01/14/08
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International

The comedy about a botched robbery and hostage-taking is so bad that even The Cube's most ardent fans are going to feel they're the real victims.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
01/11/08
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Its heart is in the right place and it tries hard--maybe too hard--to earn its sentimental ending.

Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | comment Comment
01/11/08
Greg Maki
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

While not all of the jokes work (in fact, some of them misfire badly), there are enough low-key chuckles to retain a light tone.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/10/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
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