“My ass has no charisma,” Keke Palmer says in One of Them Days, the first film backed by Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media, which features delightful chemistry between Palmer and Solana Rowe (also known as SZA). Palmer plays Dreux, a diner waitress who is hoping to move up and on in her career. She is thoughtful and usually thinks ahead; in this scene, she tries very hard to look normal in front of a love interest while strutting down a Church’s drive-thru wearing a neon bodycon suit, a bit woozy from having donated a bunch of blood. 

It’s hard to describe what the scene means, since each specific item is contextual of what occurred previously; all you need to know is that it’s not Dreux’s sexiest moment. In fact, the majority of One of Them Days isn’t really considered great or lucky for best friends/roommates Dreux and Alyssa (SZA). But for Palmer to pretend that she has no charisma is as dissonant as Glen Powell wearing a math teacher button-up over his rippling biceps to emphasize his loser professor in Hit Man. In recent ventures, Palmer has been able to take ownership of her roles (justice for Alice!), and it’s becoming clear to the mainstream and arthouse masses that movies are Palmer’s vehicle for on-screen magnetic performances and even more charm during interviews (I watch this this viral clip at least ten times every time it comes up on my IG feed, partly because I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen Issa Rae crack up in an interview before). 

I didn’t have a doubt that Palmer would be expectedly great in One of Them Days, even if her charisma came from supposedly being charisma-less. It captures a day in the life of Dreux and Alyssa — well, more specifically, 9 hours, which is the timeline their landlord gives them to hand over the rent money. Unfortunately, Alyssa’s unhoused boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua Neal) steals the rent money to invest into his already-doomed clothing line. Dreux, already worried about a job interview later that day, is understandably stressed while Alyssa, a calm-minded artist with little care for consequence, feels that the universe will bring together a solution by 6 PM that day.

I’d say that it’s just one of those days, but this isn’t the early 2000s and the Fred Durst renaissance can be found over in the A24 corner. In this side of the story, south LA is brought back to life again after the tangerine glow depicted in Insecure, and the film heavily soaks itself in its community. Dreux and Alyssa live paycheck to paycheck in The Jungle, an apartment complex made up of residents who know and semi-tolerate each other, but will have each other’s backs when pressed to the wall. The script and the neighborhood feels lived-in, as if the cast had written their own characters based on experience. I can imagine that each comedic scene has three variations with improvised lines and equally hilarious outcomes because the talent and passion into the details on making this realistic, from loan-shark businesses to gentrification, is unmistakable.

There is a little too much going for a near 100-minute runtime, which is evident by the final fifteen minutes that seem to have felt pressured to deliver a neatly-wrapped ending. I also initially thought that Alyssa seemed too aggravatingly different to make this friendship believable (though I witnessed strong endurances for people far greater than my own capacity), but she provides the outlandish alternative route of answers and opportunities that Dreux wouldn’t have done on her own. I think a part of me was hoping for a more modern-day Friday, but maybe a Good Times in Baldwin Hills is not too shabby, either.

It’s too early to say if the film excels among others in its genre, but honestly, it’s a nice surprise to laugh so early in the year when the month has already proven itself to be depressing. Featuring cameos like Katt Williams and Janelle James, One of Them Days will feel as familiar in the lingo catalogue as SSDD, while inspiring us that we could make it to the end of the day like Dreux and Alyssa. Or at least look good doing so.

One of Them Days
2025
dir. Lawrence Lamont
97 min.

Now screening at Apple Cinemas, Alamo Drafthouse Boston Seaport, and all local AMCs