New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

63 11th Hour, The
47 27 Dresses
29 Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
39 Alvin and the Chipmunks
81 Bamako
84 Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
47 Bella
68 Business of Being Born, The
69 Charlie Wilson's War
64 Cloverfield
30 Cover
68 Delirious
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
43 Final Season, The
41 First Sunday
51 Golden Compass, The
49 Good Night, The
65 Great Debaters, The
63 Hannah Takes the Stairs
52 Hollywood Dreams
7 Hottie and the Nottie, The
60 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
15 In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
81 Juno
70 Lars and the Real Girl
47 Lions for Lambs
41 Mad Money
71 Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
xx Moondance Alexander
53 Music Within
77 Nanking
44 Nina's Heavenly Delights
24 One Missed Call
74 Orphanage, The
30 Over Her Dead Body
39 P.S. I Love You
37 P2
46 Reservation Road
55 Resurrecting the Champ
57 Romulus, My Father
85 Savages, The
78 Starting Out in the Evening
83 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
57 Teeth
92 There Will Be Blood
38 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
32 Untraceable
63 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
68 War Dance
71 Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
43 Youth Without Youth

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

First Sunday
Screen Gems (Sony)


5.8

based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language, some sexual humor, and brief drug references

Starring Ice Cube, Katt Williams, Loretta Devine, Tracy Morgan, Keith David, Regina Hall, Malinda Williams, and Chi McBride

In this hilarious comedy, 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. (Screen Gems)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Crime
WRITTEN BY:	David E. Talbert
DIRECTED BY:	David E. Talbert
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 6, 2008 Theatrical: January 11, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	96 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The movie as a whole is pleasant, generally satisfying, and has a heart as big as its funny bone. For an early January movie, this is sometimes as good as it gets.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

At first, the movie is over-anxious--trying too hard to squeeze out the laughs, pump up the soundtrack, ingratiate itself with the audience--and the straining is abrasive. But once Talbert gets distracted by keeping the plot clunking along, the comedy eases into relaxed sideline banter.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

The movie’s total lack of focus and its unimpressive script should render it totally unwatchable. Weirdly, that doesn’t quite happen. There’s something endearing about these characters.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan are the nominal stars of First Sunday, but it's Katt Williams who steals the show in this by turns trite and mildly amusing B-comedy.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

First Sunday sometimes feels more like a script read-through than like an actual movie, but its warmth is likely to carry you through the stretches of cliché and tedium.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

A corny yet unexpectedly moving scene in which Morgan is moved to tears by Loretta Devine's simple kindness helps make the film's shift into inspirational drama far more palatable than it really has any right to be.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

This heist comedy has a hackneyed introduction, and its feel-good ending lacks credibility, but the big, funny chunk in the middle marks writer-director-producer David E. Talbert as a talent to watch.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The movie is so confused about itself that it comes across as toneless, a bunch of characters wandering around in a story no one is controlling.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Though Ice Cube and Morgan should make an ideal team, neither seems particularly comfortable grappling with Talbert's amateurish script. Most of the laughs, in fact, come from the strong supporting cast, led by a high-energy Williams and the unflappable Devine.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

The second half of the film is much funnier and warmer than the first, but the movie is still difficult to recommend.

Entertainment Weekly Chris Nashawaty

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.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

First Sunday is simply a case of wasting gifted performers on material that feels slapped together and unshaped.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Tyler Perry has already been here and done that to such a degree that this particular cinematic field should now be plowed under and salted so that nothing might grow thereupon forevermore. Amen.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

It plods along at a sluggard's pace through a weak premise with crude execution and even cruder characters to arrive at an unearned sentimental ending.

Variety Brian Lowry

A near-claustrophobic comedy that manages to be both predictable and preachy. Solid actors in supporting roles offer minor redemption.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A slack combination of faith-based inspiration and broad 'hood comedy.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A misguided attempt at comedy that needs to go last on anyone's list of movie options.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The problems with First Sunday extend well beyond the hokey premise and predictable performances to the fundamentals of script, direction and tone.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A heist comedy in which the audience gets robbed.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A sorry excuse for a ghetto SOS.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Drawing comparisons to "The Wire" may be unfair, but taken on its own, this anemic vehicle for Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan to mug and jive through is just weak, weak stuff.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.8 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

First Sunday Screen Gems (Sony)

First Sunday
Screen Gems (Sony)