One of Them Days

I feel like I have not seen Ms. Keke Palmer in anything in a while so I was beyond ecstatic when I started seeing trailers and advertisements for One of Them Days. She is beyond talented and she is my favorite Broadway Cinderella. She is so phenomenal so I couldn’t wait to see what her newest comedy had in story. It has also been a long time since a film branded as a comedy was actually funny, so I was looking forward to that as well.

Before we get into something as subjective as comedy let’s talk about objective elements first. Keke Palmer is a brilliant actress. Her delivery is spot on every time and she is so Disney Princess pretty and charming you want to root for her no matter what situation her character finds herself in. Her and SZA had incredible chemistry. They were truly best friends. Now I want to talk about that. This story is started and carried by the fact that Alyssa is horrible at making decisions and constantly screws up their lives by just being stupid. And then Dreux has to go ahead and clean up her mess. Now I have NEVER loved anyone enough to carry their weight like that. If I had a lifelong friend (I have a couple that actually have their lives together) that was living with me but not contributing to rent, and constantly costing me money and mental/emotional energy that friendship would be cut off so fast. Now this is probably my only problem with the film is that Dreux simply deserves better people around her.

Let’s talk about my favorite elements; pacing and structure. The film clocks in at an hour and 37 minutes and it is incredibly tight. At one point I thought one of the subplots could have been cut (because I analyze as I watch I can’t help it) but I was 100% wrong. The film was incredibly well paced, the act structure was clear and the story was driven by these mishaps that didn’t feel repetitive but really just hammered home the idea that life happens and we are all just constantly trying to roll with the punches and figure it out.

Okay now we get to talk about how that was the funniest movie I have seen in several years. I genuinely can not remember the last time I laughed that hard/loud/often in the theatre. The writing was so smart, the comedic timing from both women was incredible and overall it was truly a hilarious film. This really adds to the rewatchability factor for me, I will absolutely be watching this again, and again.

There was one little pointed section of direct commentary with Lucky hanging around outside the loan place where he points out that those places are predatory and they prey on low income neighborhoods, mostly populated with POC. And to be able to deliver commentary like this while still being able to make the audience laugh is really a great accomplishment.

Overall One of Them Days is incredible. It really is helping 2025 start off on a high note. I want to see Keke Palmer in just about everything, can we get her to be a Disney princess and/or a superhero please? She is fantastic and I just want to see so much more of her. The comedy was the central focus of this movie and it shined against a fun story with amazing structure. I highly recommend this one. Y'all know it takes a lot for me to give a movie a perfect score but this more than earns it. 10/10, perfect score, no notes.