Leaving aside the actual quality of the work, the peculiar career trajectory of Ice Cube — from gangsta rapper to indie-film icon to action hero wannabe to family-comedy superstar — is surely one of the most fascinating cultural phenomena of our time. First Sunday feels at first like an attempt to marry some of these disparate personae in one film: the title and the down-and-out buddy-movie concept suggests something in the vein of the stoner-friendly Friday films, while the comic plot, centered around church and paternal devotion, hints at the kind of family flick Cube's been making a mint on in recent years. That combination could have been interesting, but it becomes clear quickly that this is tired hokum of the first order. Which is a shame, because it starts well: luckless Durrell (Cube) and dimwitted LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan — awful, awful, awful) are two Baltimore ex-cons unable to get jobs. Durrell's ex-wife is planning on taking their son and moving to Atlanta. When a bizarre scam involving some Jamaican thugs and a van full of pimped-out wheelchairs goes bust (don't ask) the desperate duo decides to rob a church. Needless to say, things don't go as planned, as their attempt to score some easy cash turns into a bizarre, ostensibly comic hostage standoff.
Writer-director David E. Talbert, who makes his feature debut after a successful career in theater, fills his film with types — you might add a "stereo" to the word — that will ring familiar to many who have spent time around Black churches. That doesn't make up for his de rigeur storyline of redemption, the tired back-and-forth between these non-characters, or the lack of energy — half the cast spends most of its time sitting in pews as hostages. The direction is lifeless and static, and the actors involved don't seem to have much invested in their parts. (The exception is comedian Katt Williams, whose flamboyant, over-the-top turn as the church's choir director will have some in the audience in stitches, while others consider filing hate-crime lawsuits.) Everybody involved knows these Ice Cube comedies make a lot of money, but can't we at least have some standards? The phoned-in filmmaking makes this supposedly God-fearing movie feel just plain cheap and cynical. Even the preposterous warm and fuzzy finale can't conceal the fact that First Sunday is ultimately all about the benjamins. — Bilge Ebiri