ALyssa and Dreux sitting on their couch, outside their apartment complex

One Of Them Days (2024): Review and Summary | Keke Palmer Pushes The Idea “One Of Them Days” Should Become One Of Her Latest Hits

“One Of Them Days” is the kind of comedy that you can see become a single outing or a franchise in Issa Rae and Keke Palmer’s filmographies – depending on how well it does.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on

[Unless Said Otherwise] Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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One Of Them Days Plot Summary

Dreux and Alyssa live together, have been friends for years, and generally get along. Dreux has learned to adjust to Alyssa’s shortcomings, and Alyssa has learned how to operate as a free spirit despite Dreux’s liking to plan things out. However, neither was ready for Alyssa’s boyfriend, Keshawn, to spend all $1500 of their rent on the first of the month.

This leaves them scrambling for money, as their landlord threatens to put their stuff on the street. Already, one tenant is having an impromptu yard sale, and Alyssa and Dreux are trying to avoid joining them at the curb.

One Of Them Days – Film Details

Film Length1 Hour 59 Minutes
Release DateJanuary 17, 2025
Initially Available On/ViaTheatrically
Advisory RatingRated R
Genre(s)Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Young Adult
DistributorTriStar Pictures
DirectorLawrence Lamont
WriterSyreeta Singleton
Actor(s)Patrick Cage, Maude Apatow, Katt Williams, Joshua David Neal, Sza, Keke Palmer, Janelle James, Dewayne Perkins

Content Information

  • Dialog: Cursing
  • Violence: Gun Violence (Firing Of Weapon)
  • Sexual Content: Sexual Situations (Implied – Including Keshawn’s print)
  • Miscellaneous: Drinking

External Links

Character Descriptions

Dreux (Keke Palmer)

Dreux and Alyssa at the payday loan place
Keke Palmer and SZA in Tri-Star Picture’s ONE OF THEM DAYS (Photo by Anne Marie Fox)

With an education in business and being the top employee at the diner she works at, Dreux wants to move into a franchise manager position and even has an interview lined up. However, while things are going well professionally, with a financial reliance on her best friend, her personal life isn’t as stable as her career trajectory.

  • The actor is also known for their role in “Big Boss.”

Alyssa (Sza)

As an artist via canvas, Alyssa tries to go with the flow more and be more free-spirited and chill than Dreux. Sometimes, this can be seen as opening Dreux up to possibilities and chaos that may work better or quicker than Dreux’s way. However, sometimes, Alyssa’s lack of planning only makes things worse, especially when it comes to her lack of discrimination when it comes to choosing boyfriends.

Keshawn (Joshua David Neal)

Keshawn is a man whose value doesn’t extend beyond what’s in his pants, and the way Alyssa speaks; that thing has been hypnotizing her away from breaking up or holding Keshawn accountable for months.

Lucky (Katt Williams)

Lucky is a member of the neighborhood in deep debt to the local payday loaner. Because they can garnish wages, Lucky doesn’t work and instead warns people about them and provides general guidance when he can.

Bethany (Maude Apatow)

Bethany is new to the apartment complex, and all eyes are on her since she might be one of the first white people to rent an apartment, never mind a white woman living alone.

Maniac (Patrick Cage)

Maniac is a man who appears to live in Dreux and Alyssa’s complex who is undeniably attractive and seems to have something for Dreux. However, with a name like “Maniac,” and Dreux not looking for a man who is in the streets like that, whether he just has bad boy appeal or is truly a bad boy is a question she thinks is worth exploring.

One Of Them Days Review

Our Rating (80/100): Positive (Worth Seeing)

With “One Of Them Days,” Keke Palmer shows herself as not only capable of operating as part of a duo in a comedy but also a mentor, like those who helped craft her career, as she allows Sza to shine in one of her first major acting roles, and when combined with the themes often seen from anything produced by Issa Rae, you get a winning combination that should be one of the first movies you see this year.

Highlights

A Sense Of Community

Between a maternal figure in their apartment complex, a sense that everyone is looking out for each other, sans the landlord, and figures like Lucky who read like crackheads but could also be eccentric members of the neighborhood, “One Of Them Days” nails the sense that sense of community urban areas can have.

But, even beyond seeing people support each other and come together, despite some having little to give, there is also the sense multiple stories are going on at any given time. It just so happens you are focusing on Dreux and Alyssa’s instead of someone else’s.

Palmer and Sza’s Chemistry

Dreux and Alyssa in Alyssa's car, after she picks up Dreux from work
Keke Palmer and SZA in Tristar Pictures ONE OF THEM DAYS

In “One Of Them Days, we can see, with writer Syreeta Singleton writing for “Insecure” and even Issa Rae’s “Rap Sh!t,” the brand that Rae has built for her shows, specifically for depicting Black women is visibly on display. Specifically, the opposites-attract relationship, like what we see between Dreux and Alyssa and how Palmer and Sza play that out.

From compensating for each other’s weakness to a sense of hijinks as Alyssa is trying to avoid getting beat up, while I wouldn’t say the combination screams becoming a franchise, there is enough chemistry here to see a legit friendship that has survived living together, even if some personal decisions have heavily taxed the future of the friendship.

It’s Comical

From Katt Williams to Janelle James, and of course, Dewayne Perkins, who you should know from “The Blackening,” “One Of Them Days” has no shortage of characters, no matter how big or small of a role, who are ready to make their moment. I’d even say that while Palmer and Sza lead, the laughs get delivered by the supporting cast, who make far more funny moments worth remembering.

How Bethany (Maude Apatow) Is Handled

Bethany excited to see someone her age in the apartment complex
Maude Apatow in Tri-Star Picture’s ONE OF THEM DAYS (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)

Maude Apatow is notably out of place in this movie. She is perhaps the only white character with multiple scenes and lines, and her joining an apartment complex that is falling apart could raise red flags and make you think she is going to be used for social commentary. You would partly be right.

While the word “Gentrification” is naturally thrown out there, Bethany defies expectations because Bethany wants to befriend Alyssa and Dreux, share her knowledge and network, and not just have what would be cheaper rent than living elsewhere. Now, does she still drive home some criticism? Yes. But far less than you may expect.

On The Fence

The Usual Need To Question Why Is S*** Just Hitting The Fan Now?

With any buddy movie, be it cop or friends, there eventually reaches that point where a long-overdue conversation about how one disappoints the other is brought up. “One Of Them Days” is no different. While Dreux never bites her tongue in the movie, she adds some extra spice when the inevitable blowup happens.  

Sadly, while the blow-up does lead to some friction, it never evolves to the point you can imagine it being the end of the friendship. Never mind the lack of options either have since they can financially afford to live alone, but considering the situation they are in at the end of the movie, they are tied together in ways where, even as entrepreneurial as both are, you can’t imagine them really shifting into that next gear to make it alone.

How It Handles Romance

Both Dreux and Alyssa have love interests. Alyssa’s is Keshawn, who is a hobosexual, but Dreux has something different. Her man, nicknamed Maniac, has something about him that you could get into, but the way “One Of Them Days” is crafted, rightfully so, makes the idea of a boyfriend for Dreux nice, but not something that can be her primary concern.

This makes it so that while you may admire what Cage brings to the character and the mystery of whether or not he is about that life, at the same time, you may find yourself wondering if it would have been better to just have Dreux focus on getting her life together and not tease a potential relationship. For hours separated from finishing the movie, honestly, I almost forgot about Maniac.

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.