RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / First Sunday
First Sunday

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

First Sunday (2008)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
24 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:21

Fresh:5

Rotten:16

Average Rating:4.7/10

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]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
    David E. Talbert
    >
    Ice Cube & Tracy Morgan
    >
1 - 3 of 3

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for First Sunday

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 7 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
03/28/08
Phelim O'Neill
Phelim O'Neill
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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: Times [UK] | comment Comment
03/28/08
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

It has the slapstick of a The Three Stooges short without the comic timing, the characters of "Hot Ghetto Mess" without the irony, and the stereotypes of Amos 'n' Andy without the wit.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/10/08
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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
 
 
1 - 7 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View
all

Latest News for First Sunday

June 01, 2008: Ice Cube and Katt Williams co-star in demeaning minstrel show Opens in new window
More...

May 05, 2008: RT on DVD: I'm Not There is Here! Plus, News of the Blu-Ray Xbox 360 Rumors...
Microsoft comments on rumors that they'll be putting Blu-Ray players in Xbox 360s and the MPAA's best anti-piracy agents have bounties on their heads. Read more of this week's... More...

February 07, 2008: Box Office Guru Preview: Fool's Gold Hopes to Shine in Battle of New Comedies
Hollywood plays the race card this weekend opening a pair of star-driven comedies, one for white moviegoers and the other for black audiences. Matthew McConaughey and Kate... More...

January 17, 2008: Box Office Guru Preview: 01.18.08 Arrives
For the first time in four years, the Martin Luther King holiday weekend will not be ruled by a film led by an African American cast. Instead, studios are rolling out a monster... More...

See All

More DVDs

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Shock! Horror?

Shock! Horror?

Lars von Trier talks Antichrist

Avatar

Avatar

Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes video

RT's Twilight corner

RT's Twilight corner

Everything you need on New Moon is here

Kids' Book Films

Kids' Book Films

We fly through 10 of the best

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
5
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
12
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
10
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
116
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
176
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
130
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Twilight's New Moon Dazzle?
97
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
72
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
58
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
33
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
10
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
9
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • RT on DVD: Wassup, Bruno
3
  • Scott Hicks Talks The Boys Are Back
0
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Richard Kelly chats about The Box
2
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
20
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • First Sunday at Rotten Tomatoes
  • First Sunday at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Dressing Wonderland
Dressing Wonderland External Link

Tim Burton's costume designer talks to Movieline about her long collaboration with the filmmaker and Johnny Depp.

Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Win Glee DVDs
Win Glee DVDs External Link

We've got 20 copies of the hit TV series' Pilot Episode to giveaway.

Why Don't Australians Make Sci-fi?
Why Don't Australians Make Sci-fi? External Link

The New Matilda's Lynden Barber looks at the recent success of low-budget sci-fi -- and asks the question.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter External Link

Get all the latest movie updates, reviews, interviews and features here.

Competitions
Win Star Wars prizes
Win Star Wars prizes External Link

Enough Prequel, Original Trilogy and Family Guy DVDs to fill a space cruiser

Win the entire 007 collection
Win the entire 007 collection External Link

Everything from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace could be yours.

Win Fight Club Special Editions and more
Win Fight Club Special Editions and more External Link

We're giving away the 10th Anniversary Blu-ray, plus Braveheart and the Rocky collection

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.