Sidewalks On The Corner

Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan are up to no good in FIRST SUNDAY.

Follow up:

Best friends and partners in crime, Durell and LeeJohn, are struggling to make a living in the urban street of Baltimore, Maryland. Durell (Ice Cube, “Barbershop,” “Friday”), who is good at fixing things, roams from job to job trying to make ends meet but is not having any luck with steady work. Durell hooks up with his dim witted friend LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock, SNL), who takes on a job from Jamaican gangs by selling wheelchairs with rims. Needless to say the job didn't go well and, as a result, landed them in court. To make matters worse, Durell's ex Omunique (Regina Hall, the “Scary Movie” franchise) and their son are in $17,300 worth of debt, can't make the rent, and she threatens to move their son to Atlanta. The burden falls heavily on Durell's shoulders to change his life, while LeeJohn is in debt to the gangsters that asked them to sell the wheelchairs. Searching for a solution to their big problems, the two decide to attend a church service and finds out that the church has been raising funds to rebuild. Not knowing what else to do, LeeJohn comes up with a plan to rob the church of their building fund. But once the petty criminals worked up the courage to proceed with the plan, they didn't expect the problems that would follow.

The cast of characters helped to present the story through their wacky performances:

• Katt Williams, who plays Rickey, the flamboyant church choir-director, is a hilarious comedian, whose known for his stand up comedy routines in his own DVDs like "Katt Williams: The Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1," "Katt Williams: American Hustle," and for his zany roles in films like "Friday After Next" and "The Perfect Holiday.” Williams stole the show with his numerous one-liners and over the top silliness.

• The unfortunate thing about Tracy Morgan’s role is he is typecasted into dopey and stupid characters like LeeJohn. Every time you see him in film or TV, such as 30 Rock, he’s playing the same type of character. However, he does surprise me with his acting later in the film.

• The supporting cast boasts actors like Melinda Williams (“Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls,” TV’s Soul Food), who plays the smart-mouthed and intelligent Tianna Mitchell, and Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies, Boston Public) as Pastor Arthur Mitchell. They both give nice performances.

• There is nothing outstanding about Loretta Devine’s character of church secretary, Sister Doris. As with Morgan, Devine (“This Christmas”, Grey’s Anatomy) never seems to break away from her typecast roles.

• Michael Beach plays the sniveling Deacon; he seems to fit his role with perfection.

• But the actors who really drove the message home were Ice Cube as Durell and C.J. Sanders as his son. There is a pivotal moment in the movie where Durell has a decision to make and it's not an easy one.

• A cameo appearance by Tiffany Pollard, better known to VH1 fans as New York from Flavor of Love and I Love New York.

"First Sunday" is a silly, cheesy and stupid comedy, which isn't a bad thing; however, the comedy was only a distraction for the real story being told. There were plenty of laughs and stupid comedic antics to spare, such as scenes with Cube and Morgan exchanging insults with one another as if they were in the Honeymooners and the omnipresent slapstick physical comedy. But the real focus of the film was the message of owning up to the responsibilities, making the right choices in life, and not blaming others for mistakes.

The message is a universal, if not, all too familiar one, but it was the way "First Sunday" presented the moral of the story. The film wasn't preachy nor did it go overboard with the message by throwing it in your face. It told the story well in a light hearted manor. Even if the plot is a shallow one, it still provides a clean, fun, family friendly comedy that doesn’t wallow in gratuitous sex, violence, and language.

Over all, I enjoyed "First Sunday" simply for the clean fun. It's actually better than I expected.