Roommates and best friends Dreux (played by Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) are trying their best to make ends meet while living in the hood. But when Alyssa gives her boyfriend, Keshawn (Joshua Neal), their rent money to pay the landlord, he reinforces his mooching reputation and “invests” in knock-off designer clothes. The roommates find out and immediately scramble, trying everything they can think of to come up with the $1,500 they owe before they’re evicted.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Yes, the target demographic is a black audience, but this is a buddy comedy that will connect with people who live paycheck-to-paycheck, regardless of race, location or socioeconomic status. So, while the average person in Billings, Montana might not relate to the $1,500 per month price tag for a rundown apartment in Southern California, they will absolutely relate to the different steps of desperation the main characters go through when they need to raise the money they need in a short amount of time.
I read between the lines going into this one: It’s a January release which means it’s not strong enough for summer, it’s being marketed to a specific audience which means it won’t have a lot of universal value and it’s a comedy which means they probably showed all the funny parts in the trailers.
I’m very happy to report that I was wrong.
The writing is clever, the situations are believable and you can’t help but root for the characters. In addition, each “side quest” not only moves the story along but raises the stakes.
Palmer and SZA are hilarious together. That said, it’s plainly obvious that this is SZA’s acting debut. She’s actually not bad at all but there’s a “presence” on the screen by Palmer that the audience can just feel.
Think of it like this… Michael Jordan and Horace Grant on the 1992 Chicago Bulls. Grant was a good player. They got good minutes out of him. The team needed what he brought to the table. Well, Palmer is MJ and SZA is Ho Grant. There’s nothing wrong with one but the other one is clearly an All-Star.
Simply put, ONE OF THEM DAYS is a fun night out at the movies. Sure, you could wait until streaming but why not enjoy it in a theater where laughter is infectious? Just like SCRAMBLED and FLY ME TO THE MOON last year, it’s great to see a good, solid comedy on the big screen. With the growth of streaming and people seemingly only going to the theaters for horror films and big budget action movies, this is a breath of fresh air.
JKG SCORE: 7.0
Untitled Film Project 