When best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.
Dreux (Keke Palmer) works as a waitress, living paycheck to paycheck with her roommate, artist Alyssa (SZA), in a dilapidated apartment — the film’s recurring joke has pieces of the apartment falling apart around them. Alyssa’s boyfriend, Keshawn (Joshua David Neal), currently lives with them, although he is more of a leech than a contributor to the household.
When their landlord comes knocking on the door demanding rent, Dreux discovers that Alyssa entrusted Keshawn with the money. Instead of paying, Keshawn ‘invested’ the money, buying some knock-off T-shirts to make a quick buck, leaving Dreux and Alyssa nine hours to come up with the funds or face eviction. What follows in director Lawrence Lamont’s “One of Them Days” is an odyssey typical of the buddy comedy genre.
While the film is well made (Lamont has the eye for capturing a scene), it can’t help falling prey to the usual pitfalls of the genre. I should probably note that comedy isn’t one of my favorite genres. The journey that Dreux and Alyssa find themselves on hits the expected beats. Everything this pair attempts to do to raise money ends disastrously. However, it has to be for a movie like this.
The movie throws a lot at the wall to see what sticks. No surprise; some things stick, and some don’t. While the film has its share of funny quips and comebacks, a fair amount is somewhat grating. From side characters, I’m looking at you, Lucky (Katt Williams), who tries too hard to scenarios that don’t quite make sense (the blood donation sequence); this movie goes for the over-the-top but doesn’t completely embrace it.
That’s not to say that “One of Them Days” is a bad movie. It’s not. Keke Palmer and SZA deliver fine performances and work well with each other. The direction from Lamont is solid, although much of the humor falls flat. Overall, this is a movie that left me feeling indifferent. You know things are going to turn out alright for the leads. So when things start looking bad, and as if the movie might go in some surprising directions, you know that these are just the typical ‘fake out’ moments to build suspense.
Should you see this movie? It depends. The film’s trailer does a pretty good job of giving you an idea of what the movie is like without ruining many of the jokes. If you were intrigued by what you saw there, give this one a chance. If the trailer did nothing for you, chances are the rest of the movie won’t tickle your funny bone, either.
In Theaters Friday, January 17th