One of Them Days (2025)
Directed by: Lawrence Lamont
Premise: Roommates Dreux and Alyssa (Keke Palmer and SZA) scramble to pay their rent after Alyssa’s boyfriend squanders the money.
What Works: One of Them Days is a buddy comedy and it works as well as it does due to the lead performances by Keke Palmer and SZA as Dreux and Alyssa. Any good buddy comedy makes each lead character distinct and sets them up as foils to one another. Dreux is responsible and professionally minded whereas Alyssa is artistic and free spirited. Palmer and SZA are a likable pair and they bounce off each other’s personas. Although they are opposites their friendship is credible and like a romance we want to see them end up together and live happily ever after. One of Them Days also benefits from a supporting cast of colorful characters. Katt Williams plays a homeless man loitering around a payday loan business, Keyla Monterroso Mejia is cast as a loan officer, Aziza Scott plays a bully looking for Dreux and Alyssa, and Maude Apatow appears as a new quirky white resident in the predominantly Black apartment complex. These characters give One of Them Days a distinct texture and a specific sense of place that brings the movie to life. The plotting does a good job of creating dramatic tension which assists the comedy. Dreux and Alyssa have until the end of the day to raise the rent money or face eviction. Their afternoon of misadventures keeps complicating their fortunes and raising the stakes. Even though the plotting is episodic, the escalation keeps the film interesting and pulls the various parts together.
What Doesn’t: The advertising campaign for One of Them Days did a disservice to the movie by revealing so much of the plot and many of the jokes. But even leaving those spoilers aside, One of Them Days is rather familiar. The story relies on the buddy comedy formula and often feels predictable which is the opposite of what we want from a comedy. The scenarios are funny and Palmer and SZA and the rest of the cast punch up the material but overall One of Them Days feels tame. It’s consistently amusing but the movie never really takes off comedically. The likability of the characters saves the movie.
Bottom Line: One of Them Days is a light and fun comedy. It’s funny but what really makes the movie work are the characters. Keke Palmer and SZA are a terrific on-screen pair and the supporting cast add a lot of personality to the movie.
Episode: #1035 (February 9, 2025)