One of Them Days

One of Them Days (2025) is a movie my wife and I watched in theaters tonight. The storyline follows two best friends living together in an apartment where rent is due on the 1st. When one of their boyfriends blows the rent money on a bad investment, they're left scrambling to find the cash within nine hours or risk having their belongings thrown into the streets. How can they make that much money in such a short time while maintaining their dignity? Spoiler: they can't.

This film is directed by Lawrence Lamont, in his major motion picture debut, and stars Keke Palmer (Nope), SZA (Insecure), Lil Rel Howery (Get Out), Katt Williams (Friday After Next), and Ray Santiago (Ash vs Evil Dead).

This was a very fun movie. The characters, settings, and humor reminded me of the classic Friday films in many ways. The comedy delivery is subtle, but the payoff is hilarious and clever. The film strikes a nice balance between slapstick, witty one-liners, and situational humor, keeping the laughs coming from the opening scene to the closing credits. It also delivers meaningful, indirect messages about friendship, self-confidence, and resilience, all tied together with a satisfying full-circle ending.

In conclusion, One of Them Days is a refreshing and entertaining addition to the comedy genre. I'd give it a 7/10 and strongly recommend it.

I haven't seen a good comedy like this in a really, REALLY long time. It's the best kind, it has both soul and comedy.

One of those days presents a situation we can all relate to and dread ever happening to us. The two protagonists, despite everything, just keep rolling with the punches. "Ok, what is this day going to throw at me NOW?".

They're both flawed characters, HUMAN characters. One should know better and keeps making mistakes that literally drag them both down just as they're about to finally "end" the bad situation they're in. But ultimately, is getting by enough?

Highly recommended.

"One of Them Days" is a fun, chaotic romp with vibrant visuals and quirky characters. The story balances humor and heart, exploring themes of friendship and community, though it sometimes stretches believability. I didn't know the cast except for Keka Palmer and Lil Rel, but everyone played their roles well, and SZA brought the heat. Stereotyped characters like Alyssa and Berniece shine, while Dreux is less engaging. Strong performances, amusing dialogue, and colorful design and clothes keep the energy high. It's not groundbreaking, but offers an entertaining experience worth a rewatch or two.

'One Of Them Days (2025)' follows two best friends and roommates, Dreux (social anxiety final boss Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (Bill-killing international popstar SZA), who find themselves hours from eviction when Alyssa's well-endowed but generally no-good boyfriend runs off with their rent money. Taking inspiration from slightly absurd hangout films such as 'Friday (1995)', the feature presents a mixture of situational humour and ridiculous antics as its mostly real-time events play out like a series of skits comprising, well, one of them days. It's rarely outright funny, but it's often amusing and generally charming. The performers all understand the assignment, working in tandem to craft a tapestry of quirky characters and an ever-so-slightly unreal atmosphere that keeps the film feeling fresh even as it depicts ostensibly mundane activities and runs through its genre's expected tropes. For me, it isn't quite distinct or engaging as I'd like, and it generally just isn't quite my thing for reasons I'm not even all that sure of. It's fun enough for what it is, but it never quite hits that sweet spot of absurdist comedy that it kind of promises to. Still, it's an easy-to-watch and typically entertaining experience. It's decent.

So, if you've seen the previews, then you've seen the movie. It's not much relevant content that fills in the blanks in the full movie.

Even though the movie was made to cater to a particular demographic of people, I feel like the budget for the film was sourced from another particular demographic of people because of the amount of stereotypes that were abundantly reinforced in this film for no seemingly reason at all. It just came across from the producers as "This is how we have to portray these characters if we want to get the money to make this film" and it shows. The comedy was scripted and you could tell due to the amount of force presented in the delivery. Katt William's role came across as more of an anomaly and I didn't understand his relevance other than to attract more viewers.

The best way to describe this movie overall is to think of it as a car. A 1995 Honda Accord vs. A 2025 Accord. Sure, the newer model is more advanced, cleaner, and has some minor upgrades but at the end of the day, it's still a Honda Accord.

It's being compared to the 1995 film, "Friday", but the reason why some of Us can look back at a film like "Friday" and think "That was a great movie" because some of Us have evolved since then and are no longer living that way. So, the movie is just a newer model Honda Accord compared to "Friday", in a sense. The film production and technology looks cleaner. You can tell that the film and edit crew used skin smoothening filters in the final cut. I liked it. It made everyone look pretty. However, the overall message is still the same for Us: "We're financially illiterate and hypersexualized but let's laugh at Ourselves about it anyway."

The weight of this star rating is thanks to Gabrielle Dennis who I thought delivered the best performance, overall. This type of role was appropriate for her style of acting but I also found it to be beneath what she's actually capable of portraying. She's definitely underrated in my book.

We need to learn how to tell new stories because the old ones aren't funny anymore. Entertaining, sure, but it's just not where comedy should be for Us as of today.