SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT INCReview in a Hurry: If there's a God, First Sunday will be the last of its kind for Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan, who deserve better than this wannabe screwball comedy about small-time crooks knocking over a church.
The Bigger Picture: Hapless swindlers Durell (Ice Cube) and LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan) need $17,000, fast. Durell's ex Omunique (Regina Hall) is about to move out of state with his son because she's can't afford to keep her salon open unless she coughs up the cash. Durell's past crimes render him ineligible to leave town, and despite his ne'er-do-well ways, he's a devoted dad. In desperation, the guys decide to raid some church coffers for the dough—First Hope Community Church, to be exact.
Your first hope once the action begins is that the movie ends swiftly. After a tiresome and occasionally incoherent beginning, it takes an eternity for the real story to begin, when the guys finally crash the church. Instead of a quick smash-'n'-grab job, the pair end up in a hornet's nest of conflict at the church's board meeting, where rather un-Christ-like disagreements over money come to a boil when said stash is found missing.
No one will confess to the theft, but the only sincere and sweet revelations that emerge from this conflict are tiny moments between the supporting players. It's another good concept ruined once again by pandering to the audience with broad outrageousness mistaken for actual humor and grand gestures that crowd out any sense of genuine emotion.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Praise heavens for comedian Katt Williams, the movie's saving grace as Rickey, First Hope's flamboyant choir director. Williams trashes the script and clearly improvises all over the place, somehow even making the word "escrow" funny. Without him, First Sunday would play like Good Friday.