One would think that a movie trying to steal from a church would cause an uproar of biblical proportions. "Harry Potter" and "The Golden Compass" had that type of religious rivalry, but robbery from God isn't doing anything. That said, there's reason to breath a sigh of relief-at least the second half is-for "First Sunday" is not as blasphemously bad as one would think.
Durell (Ice Cube) and LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan) are best friends in two ways: since school and in the life of crime. Where LeeJohn is the less fortunate, from-a-broken-home criminal, Durell is the educated, high-SAT-scoring, made-bad-choices-in-life type.
When LeeJohn's attempt at fast cash-selling wheelchairs with 24-inch rims at $1,200 each-ends in him in debt to reimburse the local crime leader he's selling them for. To make matters worse, Durell's ex Omunique (Regina Hall) owes the landlord over $17,000 and will take Durell's son with her to her mother's in Atlanta. So, they learn that a local church, lead by Pastor Arthur Mitchell (Chi McBride), has raised a bunch of money to repair their house of worship.
When the robbery ends in the deacon (Michael Beach), flamboyant choir director Rickey (Katt Williams) and the pastor's daughter Tianna (Malinda Williams), among others, held hostage to give up the (now) missing money.
As aforementioned, the first act of this two act, 96-minute is dreadful. Uninspired and unfunny, it drags itself across the screen that would mad angels fall from grace. A cameo by a loud-mouthed reality star early-thankfully-in the film lead me to one question when she also had lines: Does that mean she's part of the Screen Actors Guild?
I hope not.
That withstanding, something magical and effervescent occurs. The terrible Old makes way for the bright and promising New. And most of this can be attributed to Katt Williams.
An energetic and funny stand-up comedian who is currently best known for MTV's "Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out" and as emcee of "The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav," Williams brings the less rambunctious and bawdy version of himself to a subtle and dry yet over-the-top and hilarious performance that single-handedly saves, for the most part, the film from eternal damnation.
Sure, Cube and Morgan have a unique and mediocre chemistry that works for this film, but this really is a showcase in a major motion picture for Williams to get noticed besides such straight-to-DVD releases as "Treasure N Tha Hood." He has all the good lines ("It's hotter in here than Satan's toenails!" is one fine example), and he should-the guy is funny.
The best part about the film is it's clean nature. It may be PG-13 but not one swear word is uttered. In this age of raunchy humor, it is refreshing to see a comedy that is both relatively clean and touching.
"First Sunday" is a funny but not overtly hilarious movie that has one savior from final judgment. It's not exactly saintly, but certainly not sinful.
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