Review of First Sunday (2008) by Timothy S — 22 Mar 2012

"First Sunday" is yet another family friendly comedy starring rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube, and none of them have been all that successful at making me laugh. This is, however, a definite improvement over the "Are We There Yet?" films, but it's still frustratingly unsatisfying.

There are brief flashes in this lightweight film of the promise Cube showed in his debut feature "Boyz N The Hood", and I sure would like to see him tackle something with some heart again. As an actor, he's above this material. The reason this film is marginally better is that it's not simply a one man show as the actor is backed up by an appealing cast of supporting characters and actors.

Loretta Devine is a lot of fun, and Malinda Williams is very likable as the pedestrian love interest. She looks great, and her and Cube have some nice moments together. Still, the brightest member of the cast is Katt Williams as the church's choir director. He gets the film's only laughs in a true star-making performance, and it's almost enough to get the film a recommendation from me.

The screenwriters kind of aim low with this by-the-numbers and predictable comedy. I was involved enough with the movie to speculate on the best way to wrap it up, and frankly, I think things are tied up too neatly. I was again hoping in vain for some conflict, but t takes the easy way out and cinches its fate once and for all for "First Sunday". There is a lot to like here, so much so that I almost gave it a positive rating. Instead of striving for greatness, it merely shoots for mediocrity, and that it achieves quite well.