I’m sure there’s at least one person bemoaning how we keep recycling ideas or gender flipping, but often the problem isn’t either of those things. It is a lack of perspective that kills a movie. Whether you gender flip, remake, adapt, or straight up ripoff a film and slap a new name on it (Transmorphers), if you don’t know why you are doing it, there’s no point.One Of Them Days is one of those films that beats back against the odds. Not only is it fresh, but it clearly owes a lot to a very popular film, and this also managed to be a good movie that had a January release. The film in question that it owes a lot to? Well, you might call it one of them days as well. Friday, F. Gary Gray’s classic hip hop based comedy that launched a franchise and two film careers. Both ice Cube and Chris Tucker got huge boosts, and their dialog is still referenced in pop culture by people who weren’t even alive when the movie was released. will this have the same culture effect?
One Of Them Days takes two best friends, Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) are thrown into a chaotic few hours after Alyssa gifts her lazy ass boyfriend their rent money, leaving the girls hours from eviction. So, they have to traverse the neighborhood, looking for every opportunity, to hopefully get enough to pay rent. of course, things escalate along the way, they end up getting into more trouble, and their friendship is tested. Between job interviews, giving blood, ridiculous credit scores, and just about every road bump that could test their friendship, the question becomes not just if these two can save their apartment, but each other as well.
Boasting a supporting ensemble full of comedy staples including Lil Rel Howery, Katt Williams, Janelle James, and Maude Apatow, this relatable comedy brings the struggle and the funny. It has all the makings of a hit that could sustain in the same way as Friday, and succeeds not by capturing the same exact beats of the 1995 comedy, but instead feeling the vibe, and pushing it through a 2025 lens. The concept of a timeline and avoiding impending doom isn’t unique to Friday, and by offering a fresh take from director Lawrence Lamont, the buddy comedy stands as a much needed bright spot.
The audio description track is successful in helping us keep track of time, and the large ensemble,but also highlighting a lot of the physical comedy. A scene with one of the girls donating blood goes especially off the rails. I do hope the choices in narrator are responsible. i listened originally to the US audio description track, and this cast is highly representational of one ethnicity. the problem with this is not knowing all the talents, and getting into what “sounds like” something, which could just lead to people who are not part of a community manufacturing a sound at the behest of the studio instead of doing the work and treating hiring a narrator like a casting process. Netflix has made this a lot weirder, as it was provided by the Screen Gems the UK audio description track for a film with an American urban setting. I’m pretty used to hearing UK audio description by now, especially on UK titles, but it is so odd to hear it pop up as the primary choice for American films like One of Them Days and Black Panther. I’ve heard an American voice narrating this, and i thought the track was solid. That is the track I’m grading, not the UK equivalent on Netflix.
As I approach my first 100 films of 2025 (a metric I will clear in may), this is one of the standouts of the year so far.
Fresh: Final Grade: B+, Audio Description: B+
