First Sunday (2008)

Director:

David E. Talbert

Writer (WGA):

David E. Talbert (written by)

Release Date:

11 January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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:

Church | Money | Singer | Friendship | Slapstick Comedy

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

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: [after he and Durell find the church safe empty] Who robs a church?

Movie Connections:

References Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Soundtrack:

Get By

Not bad.. but not that great...

This movie was like that one paper you wrote in high school. You stayed up all night working on it, but still could only pull out a C+..

I don't know why this movie needs to be about white or black (say some of the peeps reviewing it) or if you rate it low you're a bigot or if you really like it, you're a minister @ a church etc.... I'm white and I enjoyed it, just not enough to give it a 9 or 10. And while I love Tracy Morgan, Kat Williams and I-Cube.. I thought the plot was not that interesting and the funny moments were few and far between.. Sure, it had its redeeming values.. but the movie didn't know whether to be a comedy or a redemption flick. So it tried to be both..

The one part I absolutely loved and that really touched me was when Tracy's character says that he had never had a birthday celebration because the foster care place lost his birth certificate. Wow.. Talk about sad.. I actually almost started crying, because it was so emotional and I had never heard of anyone not celebrating a birthday ever.