One of Them Days

One of Them Days
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lawrence Lamont
Written by	Syreeta Singleton
Produced by	Issa Rae Sara Diya Rastogi Deniese Davis James Lopez Poppy Hanks
Starring	Keke Palmer SZA
Cinematography	Ava Berkofsky
Edited by	Tia Nolan
Music by	Chanda Dancy
Production companies	TriStar Pictures Hoorae Media ColorCreative Big Boss MACRO
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	January 17, 2025 (2025-01-17)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$14 million
Box office	$25.9 million

One of Them Days is a 2025 American female buddy comedy film directed by Lawrence Lamont from a screenplay by Syreeta Singleton. The film stars Keke Palmer and SZA in her feature film debut.

Produced by TriStar Pictures in association with Hoorae Media, One of Them Days was released to theaters in the United States and Canada on January 17, 2025, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $25.9 million.

Plot

Waitress Dreux Jones and aspiring artist Alyssa live together along with Alyssa’s boyfriend Keshawn in a rundown apartment complex under a strict landlord. When the first of the month arrives, their landlord demands their rent money of $1500, stating that if they don’t pay by 6 PM, they'll be evicted, even though both Dreux and Alyssa thought they already paid.

After much confusion between the girls, they deduce that Keshawn must have taken the money and run away with it after they can’t find him. They track him down at the home of Berniece, a woman Keshawn has been cheating with. A confrontation ensues, in which Keshawn reveals he used the money to invest in his T-shirt company, and Berniece gets knocked down by a truck door, vowing revenge.

Dreux and Alyssa, now penniless and without a car, go to a loan bank, but get rejected due to low credit scores. They then find themselves at a blood donation center. Dreux attempts to give as much blood as she possibly can to make the most money, but gets woozy whilst doing so; when Alyssa discovers this, she gets into an altercation with the inexperienced nurse, during which they lose all the blood donated. Defeated, they go to the fast food restaurant next door, where they run into Maniac, a man Dreux was previously flirting with. After eating, Alyssa leaves the two to themselves, with an idea on how to get the money.

Shortly after, Dreux and Maniac are called to help Alyssa, who is on a utility pole trying to take the pair of Air Jordans that had been left on there. After successfully retrieving them, she gets electrocuted by the wires. They manage to sell the Jordans for $1500, and Dreux gets to her job interview for the position of franchise manager on time.

During all of this, Berniece and Keshawn have been trying to track down the girls, and locate Alyssa waiting for Dreux. Despite Dreux's amazing interview, the ensuing fight between the 3 girls—during which Berniece beats both of them up and steals the $1500—leaves her prospective employers with a bad impression, and they seemingly remove her from consideration for the job. While Alyssa and Dreux argue about their predicament, they get a call from the ruthless gangster King Lolo—the man to whom the Jordans belonged—who is angry with them for selling his shoes and tells them they have until 10 PM to give him $5,000 or he'll kill them.

Returning back to their complex, the girls discover that their landlord has gone through with evicting them, and all their belongings have been thrown to the curb. They run into perky new neighbor Bethany, who offers to buy one of Alyssa’s paintings. Seeing her large following on social media, they throw and advertise an impromptu art gallery that evening at the apartment complex to raise money to give to King Lolo, which turns out successful. They earn enough money to pay him back, and Dreux’s interviewer is one of the attendees, telling her that she's impressed by the event and to expect a call offer for the job.

King Lolo arrives and Alyssa darts off, telling Dreux to stall him because she has a plan to get him off their tail while avoiding paying him their hard-earned money. After shots are fired, the girls divert his attention and flee to hide in their empty old apartment, only to discover Keshawn there, who has lit candles in an effort to win Alyssa back. King Lolo arrives, and as he prepares to kill the trio, he slams the door behind him, which causes a piece of the ceiling to fall on his head and knock him out. The candles are knocked over as well, lighting the apartment on fire. The girls, Keshawn, and an unconscious King Lolo end up trapped in a room filling with smoke, and Alyssa and Dreux reconcile. Firefighters arrive and break through the doors to rescue them, one of whom is revealed to be Maniac. As Maniac and Dreux talk about starting a relationship, King Lolo gets arrested for not paying back his delinquent loans thanks to Alyssa tipping off the loan bank. Alyssa finally cuts ties with Keshawn, and the girls re-solidify their friendship.

End credits reveal that Dreux is now a successful franchise manager, who gets picked up and dropped off from work by Maniac. Alyssa is a renowned painter, with her work selling at $1000 each. The two also live together in their newly refurbished apartment.

Cast

• Keke Palmer as Dreux Jones
• SZA as Alyssa
• Vanessa Bell Calloway as Mama Ruth
• Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Kathy
• Maude Apatow as Bethany
• Katt Williams as Lucky
• Joshua Neal as Keshawn
• Aziza Scott as Berniece
• Patrick Cage as Maniac
• Dewayne Perkins as Jameel
• Amin Joseph as King Lolo
• Gabrielle Dennis as Shayla
• DomiNque Perry as Shameeka
• Lil Rel Howery as The Buyer
• Janelle James as Ruby

Production

In April 2024, it was announced that Palmer and SZA had been cast in the film. In July that same year, it was announced that several other actors, including Howery and Apatow, had also been cast in the film. In August that same year, it was announced that Perkins, Joseph, Dennis and Perry had been cast in the film. The film cost $14 million to produce.

Release

The film was originally going to be released on January 24, 2025. On October 24, 2024, the film's first official trailer was released, revealing its title to be One of Them Days. In December 2024, it was announced that the release date had been moved to January 17, 2025, taking over the U.S. release of Paddington in Peru (2024). The film was set to have its premiere in Los Angeles on January 13, but it was cancelled due to the Palisades Fire.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, One of Them Days was released alongside Wolf Man, and was projected to gross $8–13 million from 2,402 theaters in its opening four-day MLK weekend. Variety said the wildfires in Los Angeles were not expected to affect its box office performance. The first theatrical R-rated female Black comedy since Girls Trip (2017), the film made $4.3 million on its first day (including an estimated $1.3 million from Thursday night previews). It debuted to $12 million in its opening weekend (and a total of $14 million over the four-day frame), finished in second in the weekend box office (and finishing second behind holdover Mufasa: The Lion King for the holiday). Deadline Hollywood noted the opening could have been higher given the film's positive reception from critics and audiences, criticizing Sony's marketing and noting the film made 116.6 million impressions across social media platforms compared to Girls Trip, which made 71 million impressions but opened to $31.2 million in 2017. In its second weekend the film made $8 million (dropping 32%), finishing in third.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 70 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Dishing out enough laughter and chemistry to spare through Keke Palmer and SZA, One of Them Days makes the buddy-comedy genre feel like magic once again." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an 84% overall positive score, with 63% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.

External links

• Official website
• One of Them Days at IMDb