First Sunday (2008)

Director:

David E. Talbert

Writer (WGA):

David E. Talbert (written by)

Release Date:

11 January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Keep the faith. Steal the rest.

Plot:

Durell and LeeJohn are best friends and bumbling petty criminals. When told they have one week to pay a $17,000 debt or Durell will lose his son, they come up with a desperate scheme to rob their neighborhood church. Instead, they end up spending the night in the presence of the Lord and are forced to deal with much more than they bargained for.

Plot Keywords:

Singing | Money | Cellular Phone | Heist | Baltimore Maryland

Cast

Ice Cube	...	Durell
Katt Williams	...	Rickey
Tracy Morgan	...	LeeJohn
Loretta Devine	...	Sister Doris
Michael Beach	...	Deacon
Keith David	...	Judge B. Bennet Galloway
Regina Hall	...	Omunique
Malinda Williams	...	Tianna
Chi McBride	...	Pastor Arthur Mitchell
Clifton Powell	...	Officer Eddie King
Nicholas Turturro	...	Officer D'Agostino
Olivia Cole	...	Momma T
Red Grant	...	Harold
C.J. Sanders	...	Durell Jr.
Rickey Smiley	...	Bernice Jenkins

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, some sexual humor, and brief drug references.

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:6 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12

Filming Locations:

First Hope Community Church - E. Preston Street & Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Cube Vision

Trivia:

Film prints were delivered to theaters under the codename "Bad to Worse".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first church scene, when the choir finishes singing the spiritual, there is a wide shot of the church congregation. Most of the congregation located within the middle pews can be clearly seen giving a standing ovation. There is a cutaway to Durell and LeeJohn in which most of the congregation located within the middle pews are sitting or beginning to sit. After the cutaway the scene returns to same wide shot of the congregation. Most of the congregation located within the middle pews are still standing and only now are beginning to sit.

Quotes:

LeeJohn: [sees pictures of JFK and Dr. King] Yo, Durell! They starin at me too!
[LeeJohn clearly uneasy, keeps looking at picture of Dr. King]
LeeJohn: [yelling defensively] I didn't kill the dream!

Movie Connections:

References "Pimp My Ride" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Bad Back Alt

Subpar Comedy

Let me see: It's January, and a film is released with a recognizable star and an obvious audience. Should be a winner? Nah! Not for nothing is this called the "dead season" or the "dumping ground" because almost all the films released at this time are potential losers, films deemed by their owners weak for a variety of reasons, but most certainly heading for panning by the critics.

First Sunday, a heist film set in a church, fulfills all the requirements for this notorious time of year: The plot is thin and almost silly: a couple of slackers decide to rob a local church in order to pay debts or salvage a family, mixing guilt with almost innocence; Ice Cube stars against his type as a robber with at heart and he produces, an act that guarantees this weak film distribution.

Yet, I liked First Sunday well enough to keep it from my slag heap of grade F. I liked the sub-textual seriousness of kids without dads, dads dealing with unemployment and disrespect, and mundane church matters. In addition, Cube (Durell) has a solid persona, not varying much each film, of an intelligent, serious but secretly warmhearted guy, a working stiff who just hasn't had the right breaks.

His sidekick LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan) provides the feckless, goofy, but lovable klutz, whose heart is bigger than Durell's. Beyond reasonable humor is Katt Williams' Rickey, a choirmaster with loopy observations and mannerisms. The women in the congregation serve as enablers for the errant crooks, and in one case, as major eye candy. Most of the characters in the film are shameless stereotypes.

The responsibility for this sub par comedy rests with writer director David E. Talbert, whose more that a dozen successful plays with heavy social themes remind of the success Tyler Perry has had with a similar profile. But Talbert lacks Perry's refinement of style and substance that deftly mixes broad comedy with social concerns. Talbert may never reach the success of Perry, but he should keep trying because social comedy is a powerful part of our popular culture.