No matter how bad a movie might be, it’s hard not to get attached to characters who desperately need to make rent. Luckily, director Lawrence Lamont’s film debut One of Them Days is an instant comic hit for anyone who has experienced the horrors of being broke.
On the same day hard-working diner waitress Dreux (Keke Palmer, Nope) has a job interview that could promote her into the secure, higher-paying franchise manager position of her dreams, her ditzy best friend and roommate Alyssa (SZA) wrongly trusts her boyfriend (Joshua David Neal) with the girls’ rent money (he, as dumb men tend to do, “invests” it into something useless) and the two have to make back the $1,500 before the end of the day—or face eviction from their apartment in the Baldwin Village neighborhood of south Los Angeles.
Overall, One of Them Days mines from the pretty simple buddy comedy formula wherein one stressed friend desperately tries to get out of trouble while the other is laid back to the point of disaster. However, the natural chemistry between Palmer and SZA (an acclaimed R&B artist who sticks the landing in her acting debut) in addition to 20-laughs-per-minute screenwriting and narratively satisfying plot twists from Syreeta Singleton (a writer who worked on Issa Rae’s HBO show Insecure) makes the dynamic feel fresh again. Palmer’s Dreux and SZA’s Alyssa devise several ways to make their cash in a single day, all while being pursued by the needy now-ex-boyfriend and the girl he’s been cheating on Alyssa with.
One of Them Days Trailer
The story’s use of metaphor in their moneymaking attempts is notable, as they try to secure a payday loan with a 1,900.5% interest rate (and fail, because Dreux has a credit score of 122) and later discover the loan provider literally hunts down delinquent clients. A blood bank literally bleeds Dreux dry (because the more blood you donate, the more you get paid). Alyssa gets electrocuted and must escape an ambulance bill while in pursuit of a pair of expensive shoes hanging from a telephone wire. Their apartment’s constant state of dilapidation even saves them at one point. Y’know, just another day in the life under capitalism.
One of Them Days ultimately does conclude with a feeling of hope. The characters (especially Alyssa) feel as if they grow in a way that matters, and the way they get their money back with the help of the characters in their neighborhood (including those played by Maude Apatow, Katt Williams, Vanessa Bell Calloway and Lil Rel Howery) feels well-earned rather than magically resolved. Even better, you leave the story with its characters taking steps upward, even if it’s only one at a time and the girls’ combined credit score is still only 447.
8
Great chemistry between Palmer & SZA; vivid and loving portrait of a neighborhood
Pretty predictable premise; over-the-top humor might not work for everyone
Directed by Lamont, Screenplay by Singleton
With Palmer, SZA, Neal, Apatow, Williams, Calloway and Howery
Regal Cinemas, R.
