‘One Of Them Days’: A Highly Charming Buddy Comedy-Of-Errors

It’s practically impossible not to be charmed by One Of Them Days, a buddy comedy-of-errors starring Keke Palmer and SZA as two best friends who are scrambling to get the money required to make rent for the month. Anchored by two sensational comedic performances and writer Syreeta Singleton’s hilarious script, the film is a welcome addition to the canon of films where characters can only ask: “Could this day get any worse?”

Dreux (Palmer), a waiter looking to scale the corporate ladder, and Alyssa (SZA), an aspiring artist, are friends and roommates living together in an apartment complex alongside Alyssa’s freeloading boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua Neal). When Keshawn fails to deliver the girls’ rent money to their strict landlord, he says they have until 6pm to get the money or they’ll be kicked out, sending the two on an odyssey across Los Angeles to keep their home.

Though One Of Them Days quickly veers into pretty absurd comedy, it always manages to feel oddly grounded by way of the fact that, at its core, it’s about the struggles of two friends to make rent. It makes Dreux and Alyssa easy to relate to, and I don’t think it’s unintentional that the film speaks to how we often put ourselves at mental or physical risk for financial obligations.

Granted, having your boyfriend’s affair hunting you down or attempting to get expensive shoes off a powerline aren’t what most people do to try making rent. Nonetheless, that nugget of reliability is what keeps you rooting for the friends through a deeply chaotic day of their lives.

Keke Palmer and SZA shine together in One Of Them Days

None of the film would work, though, if it weren’t for the splendid performances from its two leads. Keke Palmer and SZA (in her first screen role, might I add) have so much chemistry together that they may as well have invented the periodic table. The friendship between Dreux and Alyssa just feels so real, effortlessly laughing together in one moment and feeling frustrated with each other the next.

Palmer and SZA are simply dynamite together, and able to perfectly sell the highs and lows of long-term friendship through both of their arcs in the film. They’re joined by a remarkable array of actors, many of them Black comedians and actors, who appear in small roles along this absurd journey.

Joshua Neal is riotous as Alyssa’s cheating, himbo boyfriend Keshawn, as is Aziza Scott as Keshawn’s fling Berniece. Katt Williams appears as Lucky, a destitute man trying to steer the girls away from a shady money lending agency, while Keyla Monterroso Meija delivers comedy gold as a worker at said agency. The fact that Lil Rel Howery appears for only one scene as a prospective shoe buyer speaks to just how many wonderful and short performances there are in the film.

The film does struggle with a consistent sense of pacing, and it escalates the stakes in ways that are perhaps a little bit too absurd at times. Nonetheless, it doesn’t take away the fact that One Of Them Days is a highly entertaining comedy film thanks to its two leads and a beating heart that makes it a sincerely fun watch.

★★★½

One Of Them Days is in cinemas now.