“One of Them Days” starts 2025 with big laughs, best friends and a mid-budget comedy renaissance

It’s depressingly unusual to hear an entire theater erupt in laughter at a comedy these days. While there’s something to be said about the quality of contemporary comedy writing to begin with, the absence of thundering laughter is partially because there are just fewer comedies that make it into theaters at all. And, no, genre hybrids like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Wicked” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — movies that have the affable sheen of comedy to polish a dramatic core — don’t count; the Golden Globes’ musical or comedy category just exists to propagate that myth to extend the runtime of its telecast with more awards. (Don’t get me started on “May December” being nominated in the comedy category; a funny line about hot dogs does not a comedy make!) The straightforward comedy has been a casualty in the continued fight to maintain the mid-budget sector of filmmaking, left in the streaming service trenches, while movies of different genres apply quips like camouflage to keep the laughs alive in their honor. 

Lawrence Lamont’s “One of Them Days,” however, doesn’t need any assistance. It’s a straightforward comedy so confident and consistently funny that it could, and should, invigorate the entire genre. This conceivable comedy revival is thanks in no small part to the film’s dynamic leads Keke Palmer and SZA, who play best friends caught up in an increasingly riotous set of money troubles on one long, awful day. 

Lamont cleverly capitalizes on his stars’ quirks to keep his audience entertained, to the point that he can garner a cackle with just the cut to an actor’s face. So, when a string of already uproarious hijinks is capped off by breakout “Abbott Elementary” star Janelle James appearing as an incompetent blood donation nurse, it feels like an embarrassment of riches. Not only is Lamont’s film routinely hilarious, but it’s a mid-budget comedy that has the chance to stand out with a wide release among January’s typically dreary theatrical fare. If “One of Them Days” indicates where the genre is headed, call the gravedigger and tell them we no longer need the plot: Comedy isn’t dead yet. 

Palmer, one of the funniest and most naturalistic actors working today, has been leading this resurgence already. Her singular screen presence has held the eye of viewers since her days as a Nickelodeon sitcom star, but she’s been too often relegated to supporting roles in films like “Nope” and “Hustlers.” Those movies have been ideal for showing off Palmer’s wide array of talents, and she all but ran away with “Nope,” stealing scenes from both Daniel Kaluuya and a massive, flying, biblically-correct alien. Yet, Palmer’s leading roles have been few and far between, making her unable to flex her comedic muscles to their maximum strength like she does in “One of Them Days.”

Keke Palmer and SZA in “One Of Them Days” (Courtesy of Sony Pictures/Tristar Pictures)With the spotlight finally shining on Palmer, casting an actor making their feature film debut as her opposite would be an otherwise inadvisable move — if that actor weren’t SZA, that is. The R&B star’s highly detailed, confessional songs have made her a major player in the music industry, but just because a musician is adept at tapping their soul to write music, that doesn’t mean their persona will translate to a film. But SZA’s distinctive real-life personality is the ideal fit for her character Alyssa, whose too-carefree lifestyle sucks her roommate Dreux, played by Palmer, into a series of shenanigans that will turn one normal day into a make-or-break race against the clock. 

Dreux, the top waitress at a local diner franchise in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of South Los Angeles, is up for a promotion. She knows customer service better than anyone at her store, and despite having 15 lingering credits before she gets her degree, she’s secured a big interview for a manager position typically reserved for college graduates. All she wants to do is come home from her night shift, get some sleep and get her mind right for her 4 p.m. interview. That seemingly simple request is made all the more difficult by Alyssa’s deadbeat boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua David Neal), who keeps Alyssa d**kmatized and won’t chip in with rent, despite mooching off of the women for months. If all goes well, Dreux being a lock for the manager position means that rent will become a blessed afterthought. But when Alyssa tasks Keshawn with delivering their rent money to their miserly landlord Uche (Rizi Timane), Keshawn’s ensuing petty theft means rent is all they can think about.

Suddenly, Dreux and Alyssa find themselves completely strapped for cash on the first of the month. Rent is due and Uche promises to evict them if they can’t come up with $1500 by the end of the day. Now, the clock isn’t just ticking down to Dreux’s interview, it’s sprinting toward total destitution. The duo has to locate the missing and philandering Keshawn, but Alyssa, Dreux and we as the audience can all guess that Keshawn has already spent it. This predictability isn’t tiresome, rather, it’s the perfect entry point into the chain of mishaps and misadventures that Alyssa and Dreux are about to face as they try to keep themselves from ending up on the street.

If “One of Them Days” sounds a bit like a gender-swapped “Friday,” where two best friends have to make enough money by the end of the day or deal with dire consequences, it’s because screenwriter Syreeta Singleton’s script borrows from the conceit of that classic series and updates it for a new generation. (Katt Williams, who notably appeared in the sequel “Friday After Next,” pops up here too as the unheeded voice of reason outside a predatory loan office.) Singleton, who also served as the showrunner on “Rap Sh!t,” isn’t just writing for a modern audience, she’s writing for modern times. Dreux and Alyssa are both helped and hindered by their relationship with technology, which allows them to watch the time but also makes them accessible to everyone standing in their way. Part of the reason they’re in this mess at all is the creeping gentrification of their neighborhood. Their building’s residents are being pushed out by white, hipster yuppies like Bethany (Maude Apatow) and her rescue dog moving in. Though Bethany means well, her “prosecco and pals” parties give Uche an excuse to up the rent and renovate empty units while Alyssa and Dreux’s two-bedroom stays untouched. 

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Singleton’s script is deceptively detailed, packed with setups for outrageous callbacks as Dreux and Alyssa run into more roadblocks. Her knack for highlighting the particulars of the pair’s increasingly grim situation elevates the film’s comedy tenfold, allowing the movie to brim with perfectly paced punchlines. The script’s jovial tempo matches Lamont’s tight direction, which boosts the realism of his lead actors’ magnetic performances while being unafraid to go full-tilt absurd when the moment calls for it. Take Berniece (Aziza Scott), whose lovely lady lumps have earned her the esteemed appellation “Big Booty Berniece,” and whose temper is as renowned as her tush. Berniece’s apartment is the first stop on Alyssa and Dreux’s tour. Trouble is signaled by a stray piece of hair that crosses their feet — a “tumbleweave,” which also foreshadows Berniece’s “Looney Tunes”-esque villainous presence. When Dreux fails to divert Berniece’s attention from Alyssa sneaking in through the bedroom window, Lamont films her running after the duo in chaotic close-ups and shaky wide shots. These sequences recall both the gonzo brilliance of something like the Adult Swim short “Unedited Footage of a Bear” and Lady Gaga’s recent “Disease” video. It’s just the right amount of preposterous, both intelligent and stupid in a way that comedies can rarely pull off anymore.

The movie’s keen mixture of big punchlines and smaller, wry laughs play to Palmer and SZA’s strengths, allowing them to round out the film’s high-functioning energy. Dreux’s high-strung, overachieving personality keeps “One of Them Days” from ever going off the rails, but Palmer’s impeccable comic timing and line readings ensure the character is much more than the audience’s proxy. And SZA, for her part, more than holds her own against her venerable co-lead. Where other musicians have been unable to successfully shed the skin of their public perception to make the jump to acting believably, SZA is a natural. Every word of her dialogue drips with charisma, and her chemistry with Palmer is completely organic, and at times, even touching. 

Those bits of poignancy arrive exactly when you expect them to, but a little familiarity is welcome. “One of Them Days” isn’t trying to alter the formula, it’s reminding us of why the formula works in the first place. The film deftly recalls a time not so long ago when mid-budget buddy comedies weren’t so scarce, shoehorned into action movies and superhero sludge. Like 2024’s “Babes” and 2023’s “Bottoms” before it, “One of Them Days” puts its own memorable, blissfully current spin on the comedy without trying to reinvent the wheel. All that’s left is for audiencess to actually go see it. Maybe then we’ll get more than one of these uproarious movies in a calendar year, and it won’t be a celebration every time the mid-budget theatrical comedy claws its way from the grave.