Rating of
1.5/4
Review - First Sunday (2008)
Delorted - wrote on 01/14/08
It’s hard to decide whether to praise or crucify director David E. Talbert for making “First Sunday,” but because it wasn’t complete blasphemy, I think I he can be forgiven.
Now that I’ve got those puns out of the way, “First Sunday” is a movie about two friends, Durell (Ice Cube) and LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan), who also happen to be bumbling criminals. In order to pay a $17,000 debt so Durell can keep his son, the two decide to hold up a church for its large sum of donation money. As that plan starts to fall apart, they both learn a lot about themselves that they didn’t expect.
Being a fan of “30 Rock,” I was looking forward to seeing Morgan take on a film role, and I think he pulled it off just as well as he does on TV. He’s pretty much the same sort of character though, so it’s not that huge of a leap. His part also would have probably been better if the writing had been the same.
I don’t want to go off on a rant, but Ice Cube really showed me with this movie that he is a one-trick pony. He’s not a bad actor, but when it comes to comedy he’s always the same. I’m pretty sure he only got the job in this because of his character in the “Are We There Yet?” movies. It’s just the same thing and I’d like to see him do something else. Seeing as I haven’t seen much of his work, I guess I could always start there.
Like I said earlier, the writing isn’t the best. There were some funny moments, but every character was generic and every plot was cliché. I thought the actual idea of the movie was interesting at first, but it could have been pulled off better.
In the end, “First Sunday” is not as horrible as it sounds from the trailers and such, and I actually did enjoy it. I just don’t think it’ll be joining my DVD shelf any time soon. I’ll probably buy Juno later this year instead.
Acting: 6/10
Writing: 4/10
Video/Editing: 4/10
Audio/Music: 2/10
Entertainment: 4/10
Final Score: 4/10
