One of Them Days Review

We all have had ‘one of them days.’  For some people, those days can be worse than for others. Two friends and roommates experience a particularly bad day in a Los Angeles-set buddy comedy.

Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) have been friends and roommates for seven years. Dreux is about to have the job interview of her life, but her day gets complicated when her landlord (Rizi Timane) threatens Dreux and Alyssa with eviction if they don’t pay $1,500 in rent by 6 pm. The pair are forced to run around LA trying to find Alyssa’s deadbeat boyfriend and make a lot of money in a short space of time.

One of Them Days was a hit in America. It made a healthy profit from its $14 million budget and an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.  It’s set to be one of the sleeper hits of 2025 and achieved that by February. It showed that a female-focused film that starred and made by African-American creatives can be successful and dent any arguments of ‘go woke, go broke.’

One of Them Days does follow a tradition of African-American comedies like Friday where people in the ghetto have to hustle to survive. The film tackles issues of gentrification and the plight of people needing to live from paycheck to paycheck. One setback could lead to financial ruin. The film shows how screwed up America can be since Dreux was crippled by student debt, taking a swipe at America’s privatised health care system, and the debt trap caused by payday lenders. This led to Dreux and Alyssa needing to make some quick cash and take actions they wouldn’t normally consider.

Due to One of Them Days being an African-American film, a lot of the humour was based on African-American culture and some stereotypes. Some jokes involved the size of someone’s manhood, a woman who likes to shake her ample booty, and the residence of Dreux and Alyssa’s complex getting mesmerised by their new white neighbour. Other jokes had a basis in African-American culture, like one involving Dreux’s hair issues, but it could be altered slightly for other audiences. There was a lot of broad humour for all audiences and it was hit-and-miss. Comedy tastes are subjective. One of Them Days was a film that liked a lot of slapstick.

One of Them Days was also a female-driven film. The buddy dynamic was similar to the main characters in Joy Ride since both films featured a serious, career-driven woman being friends with chaotic artists. Dreux and Alyssa had great chemistry as the straight woman and the screw-up. This was shown early when Dreux pranked Alyssa and Alyssa helped Dreux prepare for the big interview and gave Dreux some confidence. It was a nice dynamic and the film acted as a starring vehicle for Palmer who has growing repetition: she has appeared in films like Hustlers, Lightyear, and Nope.

The plot for the film was a standard ticking clock plot where the characters were going from place to place in an attempt to achieve their goal. When watching One of Them Days I was thinking of films ranging from comedies like Booksmart and Pirates to crime films like Kidulthood. There was one point in the film I wanted to shout ‘The all is lost moment!’ Although One of Them Days was a standard, formulaic film, the director, Lawrence Lamont did inject some style into the proceedings such as superimposing a timer at critical points. One of Them Days has had great reviews, but on closer examination of Rotten Tomatoes, many of the reviews have been middling to mildly positive, not outright stellar, which shows the flaws of Rotten Tomatoes’ methodology.

One of Them Days was a mildly entertaining film. There were some funny scenes and scenarios and a strong central dynamic, but it was too formulaic and there weren’t enough memorable moments to help sustain the film.