One of Them Days
Directed by Lawrence Lamont
Written by Syreeta Singleton
Starring Keke Palmer, SZA
Rated R
Runtime: 1 hour, 17 minutes
In theaters January 17

by Tessa Swehla, Associate Editor

The buddy comedy has a long tradition in US cinema. Two friends go on an adventure, usually over a limited period of time such as a day or week, that will test their ability to be each other’s support systems, expose long simmering resentments, but inevitably deepen their bonds? It’s a formula designed to be an audience pleaser. Most buddy comedies center around masculine friendships with classics like Hot Fuzz (2007), Men in Black (1997), Some Like It Hot (1959), Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), and The Odd Couple (1968) listed prominently along with some duds (looking at you, The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017)). There are few examples of women-led buddy comedies, and even fewer stellar ones (Booksmart (2019) and Plan B (2021) being the two that come to mind), and even fewer led solely by women of color.

One of Them Days fits in the buddy comedy tradition nicely, with the basic plot points being predictable and comforting, but it cleverly brings in themes that are unusual in a buddy comedy. Directed by Detroit filmmaker Lawrence Lamont and Insecure alum Syreeta Singleton, the film centers around the relationship between Dreux (Keke Palmer) and her roommate and best friend Alyssa (SZA, in her feature film debut). Dreux works as a waitress at a local diner, while Alyssa spends her days painting in their shitty apartment and fielding the advances of her slacker boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua David Neal). Dreux returns home from a long night shift to find that Alyssa gave their rent money to Keshawn to give to their landlord, only for Keshawn to spend the money on his t-shirt business. Their landlord gives them a deadline: have the money by the end of the day (it’s the first of the month) or be evicted. Dreux and Alyssa have to try to hustle up the money over the course of the day, getting into all sorts of trouble.

Palmer and SZA make for a charming duo: Palmer is already known for her charisma on-screen (One of Them Days made me want to watch Nope again) and, while SZA has a magnetic quality when she performs on stage, this film also highlights her innate sense of comedic timing. Dreux and Alyssa fit into the classic Odd Couple mold–Dreux is focused on accomplishing her goals while Alyssa has a more laissez-faire approach–but they never feel restrained by those archetypes. For one thing, Dreux is stalled out 15 credits short of finishing business school and her credit score is laughably bad–a payday loan officer literally cannot stop laughing about how low it is–implying that while she has tried to follow the road to adulthood success and financial security, unnamed but heavily implied barriers have prevented her from doing so in the past. Alyssa, on the other hand, may affect a breezy, “the universe will provide” attitude, but it becomes quickly apparent that she is daunted by the idea of failure. Both characters are more supportive of each other than they are of themselves–while still being acutely aware of each other’s flaws–and often offer good advice that they themselves fail to follow, a dynamic that I am familiar with in my own friendships.

While neither Lamont nor Singleton have a large filmography under their belts, they both have an impressive grasp of visual storytelling and Black film tradition. The film’s beginning firmly establishes the scope of the setting by referencing an early scene from Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. We get a wide shot of The Jungle (a local nickname for the Baldwin Village neighborhood of LA where Alyssa and Dreux live and where the majority of the film takes place) with a voiceover from a local DJ summarizing the day’s weather forecast: hot and sunny. While One of Them Days does not have the dark turn of Lee’s film, the two films are primarily interested in the complex inner workings of their respective neighborhoods. Dreux and Alyssa’s struggles to make ends meet every month are a microcosm of the issues in their community as a whole. 

Everyone is part of the grind culture in this film: from the hair stylist who is taking customers in the courtyard of the building (and who does not have time to fix Dreux’s hair) to the woman running a community bodega out of her apartment to the landlord, who needs money so badly that he is upgrading empty apartments to attract white people (gentrification is also a quiet spectre here). Because the film takes place entirely on the first of an unnamed summer month, the emphasis is on the cycle of desperation of living from paycheck to paycheck and how exhausting and demeaning that cycle is. We laugh at the lengths that Dreux and Alyssa are willing to go to, but we also feel the injustice of their situation keenly.

The film is also just funny, which is something we all desperately need right now. Lamont recently posted on his Instagram his support for those affected by the fires in LA, adding: “I truly believe in the power of laughter to bring healing, even in the toughest times. My hope is that #OneOfThemDays can provide a moment of escape and joy when the time is right.” I was lucky enough to see this film in a theater with a small crowd of people; laughing with them felt like bonding into our own ephemeral community, exorcising our own fears and pain together.

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