I feel like movies like ONE OF THEM DAYS were made far more in the 1990s and 2000s, when it was a more simple time for comedies aimed at adults and would play in more screens in cinemas. It feels almost refreshing in a way to see a movie like this in which two best friends, even with differences, learn and adapt to overcome a problem and also not take it seriously at the same time.
The rent is due! Dreux (Keke Palmer, who I have been a fan of ever since AKEELAH & THE BEE from almost two decades ago) works in a restaurant but wants to expand into a franchise manager. Her best friend and roommate Alyssa (Sza) is also on hard times financially. It probably also doesn’t help that the two friends have some strange connections and some bad guys that want to do harm along with a long list of colorful neighbours in their apartment block.
What I really liked about this movie is that it while it is overall a comedy, it also takes the situation somewhat seriously and keeps it grounded. I really liked title-cards that had a countdown to eviction, and filmmaker Lawrence Lamont (in his feature debut, following a background in music videos) has a fun and lighthearted style with its LA setting and its neighborhoods. A scene for example at a Money Mart-like loan shop and its somewhat unhinged office worker goes on a bit longer than it should, but it does have a payoff later.
Most of it works with a few overlong scenes and jokes that don’t land, but the chemistry between Keke Palmer and SZA more than makes up for it and the support the movie gets from the likes of Katt Williams (one of my favourite comedians) as a “protestor” of sorts outside of the money store, Maude Apatow (daughter of Judd) as an unlikely and perky neighbour and Lil Rel Howery as the “buyer”. ONE OF THEM DAYS isn’t going to break the mold on cinema but it DOES provide a brisk 90 minutes of laughs and entertainment and it also works REALLY well with a crowd.
ONE OF THEM DAYS is now playing in theatres.