One of Them Days: Film Review
Keke Palmer is one of the most charismatic actresses around, so it was an absolute joy to watch her work her magic in One of Them Days.
She plays Dreux, a waitress at a diner who is trying to become a franchise manager. She lives with her best friend, the frustratingly chill artist Alyssa (SZA), in an apartment in the Baldwin Village neighbourhood in LA. On the day of her interview, she discovers that their rent has been stolen and their landlord will evict them by the end of the day if they don’t find the money.
We follow the BFFs on their adventure as they try to drum up money through various means, such as donating blood and selling vintage Nikes. At the same time, they are pursued by Alyssa’s boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua Neal) and his lover Berniece (Aziza Scott), who are annoyed by the girls breaking into her home. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong and the situation becomes increasingly desperate and dangerous for our protagonists.
A buddy comedy needs chemistry between the leads otherwise it won’t work. Thankfully, Palmer and SZA (real name Solana Rowe) have that in spades. Their rapport is the highlight – they have fantastic banter and bounce off each other. The dialogue felt real rather than scripted and the duo felt like genuine friends who’ve known each other for years. I bought into their friendship immediately and enjoyed their conversations more than the comedy setpieces, which weren’t particularly funny as they were often trying too hard.
Palmer is so funny, with excellent comedic timing, line deliveries and facial expressions. She might be best known as a singer but SZA is a natural actress. She makes it look so effortless in her feature debut. While I liked them both as individuals, they were even better together. Their friendship dynamic is interesting – Dreux works so hard and can’t catch a break due to Alyssa messing up and dragging her down. They confront this in a really satisfying way later.
One of Them Days is an entertaining comedy of errors that is often a bit silly and far-fetched. It succeeds best when it lets Palmer and SZA do their thing and focuses on their friendship and camaraderie instead of trying to force the comedy sequences.
In cinemas from Friday 7th March
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
