One of Them Days (2025)

So this is a late post. Admittedly I got lazy over the past weekend and didn’t take the time to write. Incidentally, I’ve been watching a lot of The Sopranos (1999-2007) and playing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (2025) over the weekend, but that’s neither here nor there. The previous week went okay; it rained for a couple of days and there was some nice overcast on the days when it wasn’t raining, so that was nice. Valentine’s Day passed and I got myself a nice little gift that actually did not come the day of. It did come in yesterday though, a black Seiko “King Turtle” diver’s watch. It is my first mechanical watch and I was glad to take advantage of the Valentine’s Day sales going on in the past week to get it at a good price.

Over the past weekend, I went to see One of Them Days (dir: Lawrence Lamont, 2025). If you recall my post on Babygirl (2024), it was during that showing that I first saw the trailer for OOTD and expressed interest in seeing it. Many weeks later, I finally saw it and I’m glad to have caught it in theaters since it’s likely to be on the way out soon. We’re back at the Cinemark 16 theater in Victorville for this viewing. I elected to go to the 9:40am showtime on Saturday 2/15. I got up around 7 in the morning, got ready, and took a walk around a semi-local park before heading to the showtime. Since it was my first time in Cinemark for February, I was able to use my membership voucher. I initially thought I was gonna have the auditorium for myself, but a few other couples made their way in during the trailers. Speaking of which, I was greeted by a lot of the same trailers that I’ve seen before. Many of them were for horror movies like The Monkey (2025), The Woman in the Yard (2025), and Until Dawn (2025). There were a couple of action movies thrown into the mix like Novacaine (2025) and The Thunderbolts (2025). The trailer for The Thunderbolts was interesting to me. I’m not really interested in seeing the movie, but the way the trailer was edited, and the use of a cover of a popular song, ironically gave off mid-2010s DC movie vibes. One new trailer was for the upcoming 28 Years Later (2025). I’ve never seen the original film, but I do remember seeing bits and pieces of 28 Weeks Later (2007) at a family party in 2010. Perhaps I’ll get around to watching the original sometime.  

One of Them Days is a buddy comedy movie starring Keke Palmer as Dreux, a waitress interviewing for a corporate promotion, and SZA as her aspiring artist roommate, Alyssa. Together they live in a rundown Los Angeles apartment, along with Alyssa’s freeloading boyfriend, Keshawn (Joshua David Neal). When Keshawn blows the ladies’ rent money on a bad investment, Dreux and Alyssa have to race against the clock to make sure they don’t get evicted. As a comedy, this movie certainly delivers on The Funny, much of the time from great writing delivered well by our two leads. Keke Palmer is excellent as always, but I’d also like to give credit to SZA as well. It’s pretty common for musicians and artists getting into acting to be dismissed as just lending star power to a project, and while I didn’t really carry that mindset going in, I was pleasantly surprised by how well SZA and her character complimented Palmer’s. She can bring on the laughs as well as deliver convincing emotional moments. The cast as a whole, minor characters and extras included, deserve credit too. Even as the movie escalates into more absurdly comedic situations, all the characters (even some of the goofier ones) help to establish a sense of community that serves to help build out the world in this movie. Speaking of escalation, without getting into spoilers, I really enjoyed how Dreux and Alyssa’s quest to avoid eviction morphs and twists around. A new problem is always revealed in a timely fashion, often more ridiculous and absurd than the last. People may not like when a comedy gets too goofy, but I’m personally all for that kind of shit. 

Honestly, when it comes to negatives I don’t think I can genuinely give many critiques that aren’t simply nitpicks. Comedy can be subjective so not every joke is going to land. Without revealing too much, there is some use of slow-mo that can be a little too goofy for me. You can argue that the visual effects are meh, but for me, most of the time that contributes to the gag. Moreover, while I do enjoy the emotional moments and find them to be genuine, sometimes the movie creates a sort of tonal whiplash by placing them directly after a gag or funny set piece. 

All that being said, I’m gonna go ahead and give One of Them Days a Best Movie Ever. I acknowledge that this indeed is a late post. I got caught up in the weekend and got a little lazy, but it won’t become a habit (probably). Before I close into my final thoughts, I should mention that I also saw a bootleg stream of Captain America: Brave New World (2025) over the weekend. I didn’t intend on watching the movie, but it just so happened to be streaming on a Discord call with friends. Funnily enough I barely remembered seeing it, which should give some indication as to what I thought of the movie, but I digress. Anyways, I had a great time watching One of Them Days and found the movie to be a good “palate cleanser” to the horror and generally more moodier and somber movies I’ve seen as of late. That being said, my next post is going to be on the upcoming horror movie, The Monkey (2025). Have a good night!