Streaming has taken the hang out movie away from theatres. Some of my favorite memories are being with friends going to see the funny movie du jour. Laughing along with everyone watching Superbad in 2007 electrifies the theater in ways no drama could ever do. I longed for One of Them Days to get anywhere near those heights. It does occasionally, but the nostalgia bump from a packed excited theater makes those collective guffaws carry a little bit extra just for giving it a shot.
The Michael Cera and Jonah Hill of One of Them Days are Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA), two struggling twentysomethings in LA. On the day the rent is due, Alyssa’s boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua Neal) spills the tea that he spend the rent money on a crappy side hustle. Broke and desperate, Dreux convinces the super Uche (Rizi Timane) to give them till the end of the night to get their rent money: a day which includes Dreux’s big interview to get a franchising opportunity, a pair of Jordans, and a Maniac (Patrick Cage), among many other misadventures.
One of Them Days is going for broad laughter. That’s always a tricky proposition: go too broad and you resort to cringey stereotypes, or maybe even worse, come off lazy and boring. The more time we live in a bit, the more fun and exciting the humor gets. I found the payday loan application section the funniest, giving a bunch of people time to cook and poke jabs at the predatory nature of those businesses. The gentrification runner is also excellent, with Maude Apatow’s Bethany and how the apartment complex reacts to her wonderfully specific. Unfortunately the plot has to kick the stakes in, so we bounce around LA a lot at a rapid pace, meaning most of the bits have to be quick hitters. That means, broad stereotypes and pratfalls are the quickest way to a laugh. On those rapid fire joke sequences, One of Them Days’s hit rate was just under half, meaning there was more silence than you might expect despite SZA on an electrified telephone pole, or a girl with a fat ass approaching a tight fitting intersection.
But all that can be forgiven because of Keke Palmer and SZA. The two are happy to be here, and just enjoy each other’s company. Palmer’s unlimited charisma smartly lands her in the leading woman role; the talented actor basically can vacillate between plot driver and funny scene partner as the movie needs, holding SZA’s hand through her first feature. She’s not asked to do a lot, but at least she commits 100% to each scene she’s in, even carrying a really funny one by herself while Palmer is taking care of some plot mechanics. Helping our dynamic duo is a series of game side character, ready and willing to go for the joke at all times. We’ve got the vets like Katt Williams and Janelle James, the funny white girl Maude Apatow, weirdo love interests Joshua Neal and Patrick Cage, and my personal winner Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who takes a nothing part and dominates the scene with the two leading ladies in it.
I don’t think I’ll be hanging out a lot and regaling people with tales of One of Them Days. In place of watching a comedy alone at my house, this one’s winning enough to give a shot. In the dark days of January, amdist heavy Oscar bait, throw in something light like this and have a blast. And if you’re me, you can laugh quietly to yourself as the black couple next to you is explaining how SZA is different from RZA and Sia. What a world we live in!