Reviews

First Sunday

Repent

By MARK BAZER | January 16, 2008

2.0 Stars

OH MY GOD: Ice Cube robs a church.

You’ve got to be a serious screw-up or devastated by desperation to rob a church. In First Sunday, Tracy Morgan, reprising the petulant overgrown-child shtick he does so well on 30 Rock, plays the former and Ice Cube, as a dad in need of $17,000 to save his son’s mother from moving the boy to Atlanta, is the latter. Together, they plot to abscond with cash that a ghetto congregation has raised to save its house of worship. Some of the antic sequences mix awkwardly with moments of sadness, and the interplay between Cube, all snarls, and Morgan, the cause of most of the snarls, is weak. But writer/director David E. Talbert, who’s made a name for himself in the urban-theater scene, tells an entertaining story with an appealing supporting cast plus the uplifting message that crime doesn’t pay — unless (spoiler!) you rob a church full of forgiving parishioners. 96 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle + suburbs

Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Ice Cube (Rapper), More

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