‘One of Them Days’ is a fun night out

The buddy comedy is back with a bang in Syreeta Singleton’s ‘One of Them Days’ (2025). Starring Keke Palmer and SZA as waitress Dreux and artist Alyssa having a particularly bad day in Los Angeles, the film is reminiscent of the cult classic ‘Friday’ (1995) but with a merciless landlord, some gentrification and an activist against payday loans thrown in.

As far as diametrically opposed leads go, Dreux and Alyssa are night and day. Hard-working and ambitious Dreux is trying to ditch her waitress job and become a franchise manager. Alyssa, on the other hand, is a good but relatively unambitious artist, who mostly spends her days shacked up with her unhoused boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua David Neal).

Somehow, they make their friendship work and have been facing the ups and downs of trying to succeed in south Los Angeles together and as roommates. On the day that Dreux has her big franchise manager interview, the rent is due and Alyssa has, inexplicably, given it to the perennially broke Keshawn to pay the landlord.

Unsurprisingly, Keshawn dips with the cash, and their landlord wants his money by 18h00 or they’re being evicted. What follows is a chaotic race against time to not only find Keshawn and get their rent money back but also to get Dreux to her interview.

If you enjoy movies like ‘Friday’, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this. Palmer and SZA make a highly watchable and amusing duo and their madcap ride through the city, directed by Lawrence Lamont, is filled with a wealth of weirdos, humorously misguided plans and heartwarming moments of blooming romance and female friendship.

Though the plot is driven by implausibly bad decisions, the chemistry between Palmer and SZA allows for plenty of forgiveness, as does the casting of Kat Williams and Janelle James, as well as Amin Joseph and Aziza Scott, who play the oddballs and villains, respectively.

All things considered, SZA, in her debut performance, makes a solid case for diversifying her portfolio and Palmer is a comedy star. See this on the big screen for a fun night out.

‘One of Them Days’ (2025) is now showing at Ster-Kinekor.

– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com