I've said it ad nauseum, but I'll say it again: modern rom-coms/straightforward comedies have a class problem. Specifically, these movies focus too much on people with excessive access to cash. True, a Nancy Meyers movie focusing on lavish unobtainable kitchens is nothing new. But modern titles like Ticket to Paradise, Tag, Anyone But You, and other theatrical yukfests focus on "wacky" people who can just plop down cash for a plane ticket to Australia, splurge on a remote island wedding, or other costly frivolities.
Trying to make an Arthur remake focusing on "the world's only loveable billionaire" in 2011 (right after The Great Recession) was already a poor idea. 13 years later, this problems only worsened. Comedy movie characters still have the spending habits of folks from 1995 even as moviegoers across the nation struggle to make rent every month.
Seemingly descending from the Heavens to address this issue is One of Them Days. Here’s a big-screen comedy that actually dares to focus on (GASP!) people who work ordinary jobs and don’t have a massive bank account to solve all their problems. It’s nowhere near Anora-masterful in its distinctly modern class commentary. Nor will anyone be comparing One of Them Days to Bottoms or Game Night in the pantheon of greatest theatrical post-2010 comedies. However, director Lawrence Lamont has still delivered a fun January treat getting a lot of mileage out of its lead characters.
Best friends and roommates Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) are struggling. Living out their days in a shabby Los Angeles apartment complex, the duo can barely make rent each month, even with the latter character's no-good boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua Neal) crashing at their pad. Through a mix-up involving Alyssa handing a lot of important cash to Keshawn, these lifelong chums find themselves in crisis mode. Their rent money didn’t reach their strict landlord. Now they’re staring down the barrel of eviction. This happens on the same day as Dreux's incredibly important job interview, which is at 4:00 PM.
Dreux and Alyssa subsequently make their way across Los Angeles to try and secure the $1,500 that can help keep a roof over their heads. Turns out there are a lot of ways to make a quick dollar nearby (like donating blood)…too bad trouble follows the pair wherever they go. All the while, the vengeful and unstoppable Berniece (Aziza Scott) pursues the pair after they publicly embarrass her.
How refreshing it is to see a modern comedy conscious that the greatest adversaries for young people in 2025 are landlords, predatory loan companies, hidden ambulance fees, and any other capitalistic demands. “It shouldn’t have to be this hard,” Dreux bemoans at one point in Syreeta Singleton's screenplay. It's a raw vulnerable moment reflecting why it’s easy getting invested in Dreux and Alyssa. The stakes are consistently clear as One of Them Days uncovers comedic chaos in the most intimate struggles of day-to-day life. Even the amount of money these two need (a couple thousand dollars) is chump change compared to the cash-based MacGuffin’s of other comedies. These qualities speak to Singleton’s wise choice to keep the scope small and concentrate on a deep friendship tested by forces like rent money.
Singleton also shows a welcome proclivity for indulging in some wackier tendencies. Nothing in here reaches the lunacy heights of Hundreds of Beavers or a David Wain movie. However, welcome heightened touches tickle the funny bone, such as a “Biscuit Bandit” snatching people’s food from the Church’s Chicken drive-thru or a “tumbleweave”. It’s so ridiculous that dollar bills and hidden fees dictate everyday working-class life. Why not accompany those ludicrous aspects of reality with sillier gags like blood spraying everywhere like a Tarantino movie finale? These welcome flourishes inspire the biggest laughs in this production’s runtime.
Really excelling behind the scenes on One of Them Days, though, is composer Chanda Dancy. Her compositions show an impressive amount of musical range. A single sequence involving Dreux and Alyssa sneaking into Berniece’s apartment complex alone evokes sonic motifs rooted in Westerns and heist movies. Creatively incorporated instruments like xylophones also make her tracks stand out where so many comedy movie scores go through the motions. One of Them Days is one of Dancy's first feature film scoring gigs (following her work on Blink Twice, Aftershock, and Devotion). However, she's already demonstrating some real chops. To paraphrase Emperor Palpatine, "I will watch your career with great interest!"
The score and plentiful supply of heightened jokes are pleasant in One of Them Days, but what clinches the proceedings as an affable exercise is Palmer and SZA’s performances. They’re just fun to watch bounce off each other, a critical component for any comedy hinging on a wacky duo. Palmer especially excels here with her masterful sense of comic timing. It’s often a wise idea to cast talented dramatic performers in comedies so that they can lend their experienced level of conviction to wacky material. Just look at Jesse Plemons in Game Night or Adam Driver in that “Oil Baron” Saturday Night Live sketch. Palmer most certainly qualifies as a flat-out terrific actor and that means she lends hysterical oomph to even the most half-hearted One of Them Days jokes.
Unfortunately, not even Palmer or Dancy’s score can save One of Them Days from going down deeply familiar narrative territory in its third act. This includes a poorly done “all is lost!” moment involving Dreux and Alyssa coming to blows with each other. Fear may be the mind killer, but predictability is the comedy killer. While the “biscuit bandit” comes out of nowhere, forced third-act conflict in One of Them Days rigidly mimics many other movies.
The home stretch of One of Them Days also involves our heroes having to contend with gun-toting criminals. What is going on with comedy movies in the last decade where they always have to involve generic gangsters unloading bullets? Baywatch, Snatched, Stuber, Quiz Lady, The Do-Over, every comedy movie has to detour into derivative criminal underworld shenanigans. Is this a way to make “comedies” more “palatable” to blockbuster-obsessed audiences by making these films double as action/crime films? Perhaps it’s a way to mimic The Hangover trilogy’s success since those films were full of gun-toting criminals.
Whatever the reason for this phenomenon, One of Them Days suffers mightily with this material in its third act. The entire film is at its weakest when its gags, storylines, and visuals merely evoke movies of yesteryear. One of Them Days can’t escape the gravitational pull of modern comedy movie shortcomings. Thankfully, unique charms do abound here even just in the distinctive pieces of costume design (I love Alyssa’s shoes/slippers!). These qualities and the production’s affection for its ramshackle working-class characters keep the proceedings amiable and chuckle-worthy. Plus, the big screen was absolutely made for movie stars like Keke Palmer and she’s so much fun here. Take note Anyone but You, this is how you make effective big-screen comedy filmmaking focusing on normal people!