Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment – 98 mins – 2008 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85: 1 – TrueHD 5.1

When seeing the poster for First Sunday and glancing at Ice Cube’s face, your first reaction might be that this is a sequel to the Friday films, or at least it must be related somehow. But no, First Sunday has a totally different storyline and characters, but it still attempts to go after the same audience. First Sunday is now available from Sony Home Entertainment on Blu-ray, but unfortunately you won’t have much of a spiritual experience watching it.

THE MOVIE

First Sunday stars Ice Cube as Durell Jefferson, and Saturday Night Live alumni Tracy Morgan as LeeJohn Jackson, two down on their luck buddies who are in desperate need of money. Durell needs the cash to keep his baby’s mother from moving her salon business out of town so he can stay close with his son; and LeeJohn needs money to maintain his status as a playa. The scheme they come up with is to rob a church and steal the money that was raised to make needed repairs to the building. The caper is solid until everything goes wrong when during the robbery they realize that someone else has already stolen the money. With no other options Durell and LeeJohn decide to hold the church’s staff hostage to figure out who really took the money.

Written and directed by David E. Talbert, First Sunday is trying to go for a softer side than the Friday movies, while at the same time attempting to offer a strong ensemble cast that another Ice Cube movie, Barbershop, accomplished. It’s also trying to emulate the 70’s style of the urban buddy comedies that starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier, such as Uptown Saturday Night, Let’s Do it Again, and A Piece of the Action. First Sunday’s intentions are good, but it’s the execution doesn’t come off as clever as the Cosby/Poitier movies, where you actually like those guys from the start, related to their problems, and wanted them to win. Instead of fleshing out the characters, First Sunday just keeps throwing jokes at you, hoping to get as many laughs as possible, which falls flat fast. Even co-star Katt Williams, who is a great stand up comedian, isn’t given the room to do his thing, becoming more annoying than funny.

The real standouts in the film are some of the supporting actors, particularly Chi McBride who plays the church’s Pastor, the one person who keeps the hostage situation from going bad, and Loretta Devine as the church secretary, and Michael Beach as a Deacon who seems to be up to something using the church as his shield. These background performances in many ways save this film from being worse than it could have been.

The main problem with First Sunday is the pacing, because there’s nothing very cinematic about it, making it move like a made-for-TV movie. Sure they’re are some laughs here and there, but nothing that will keep you going. In his previous films, Ice Cube teamed with Chris Tucker and Mike Epps, and there was chemistry, but the teaming of Cube and Morgan just doesn’t feel right. The best way to say it, is that they just don’t click. The film also becomes too sappy, over-cooking its message that people can change for the better no matter how hard their situation is.

Overall, First Sunday is no more than a rental and can’t be recommended as a high-definition addition to your collection, because after seeing it once, there’s no reason to go back to this church again. If you need your Ice Cube fix badly, just wait for the Friday films to hit Blu-ray.

VIDEO

Presented in full 1080p with a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, First Sunday displays good picture quality with vibrant colors and solid blacks. While not HD show-off material, there are moments that really stand out, particularly close ups that are so sharp that you can count every one of actress Regina Hall’s eyelashes. First Sunday’s picture quality is not going go head-to-head against the superior titles like I, Robot, but it’s not too shabby either.

SOUND

Offering a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio mix, the sound in First Sunday is well done, especially in scenes where multiple characters are speaking at the same time, it never sounds muffled. The soundtrack really stands out, offering both a mixture of rap and gospel; and the song that plays over the ending credits is so good that it may make you forget how lame the actual film is.

EXTRAS

There are a few extras, but nothing that will hold your attention, and besides the trailer for the film everything is presented in standard definition.

Director David E. Talbert provides an audio commentary track, which while not offering anything new to make you watch the film again, he does appear to be a nice guy who hasn’t been sucked into the arrogant $100 million dollar director’s club. He obviously put his heart into making this film. Let’s hope that his next effort will demonstrate a better example of his talent.

There are a whopping 30 minutes of Deleted Scenes, and most are just extended scenes from the theatrical version. You may find yourself scanning through these scenes, because there’s really not much to offer.

‘Hood Robbin’ is a 15 minute behind the scenes look at the making of First Sunday with interviews from the cast and crew discussing how the project began and what attracted Ice Cube to it.

The Gag Reel’ is 4 minutes of actors goofing their lines. If you like this type of thing, you may get a laugh.

‘David E. Talbert’s Camera Wrap Speech’ is just that. After the last shot, Talbert thanks the cast and crew in a sincere speech.

‘The Almighty Version’ allows you to watch the film as pop up facts about it are displayed. The facts are infrequent and won’t hold your attention very much.

BOTTOM LINE

First Sunday is harmless entertainment, but doesn’t move beyond rental status. If you’re a hardcore fan of Ice Cube’s hood movies you may get something out of it, but you’re going to have to try hard. The Blu-ray itself offers good image and sound quality, but other than that there’s not much in the package.

SCORES (Out of 5):

The Movie: 2.0

Video: 3.0

Sound: 3.0

Extras: 2.5

Bottom Line: 2.5