“One of Them Days” is a colorful comedy film about one bumpy adventure of two African American ladies. Right from the beginning, you will have a pretty good idea about how the movie will roll its story and characters to its expected finale, but it is constantly buoyed by a series of effective comic moments, and, most of all, it is held together well by the talent and presence of its two good lead actresses.

At the beginning, we see how things look promising for Dreux (Keke Palmer) on one day, a young black woman who has diligently worked as a waitress at some local diner of one neighborhood in LA. Thanks to her diligence as well as resourcefulness, Dreux finally gets a chance for promotion, and all she will have to do now is making some good impression during the upcoming interview to be held at PM 4:00.

However, alas, she soon faces a big problem due to her best friend/roommate Alyssa (RZA), a struggling artist who has not sold any of her paintings yet. Alyssa is supposed to hand their rent to their rather strict landlord, but, unfortunately, her useless current boyfriend took it for financing another idiotic business plan of his, and now she and Dreux will be evicted out of their shabby apartment building if they fail to pay the rent, which is no less than $ 1500, within 8 hours.

As Dreux and Alyssa try to find any possible option for them, we get to know more about their friendship as well as their contrasting personalities. While Dreux is relatively more serious and thoughtful, Alyssa is often impulsive and thoughtless, and they frequently cannot help but bicker with each other – even while trying to stick together for handling their impending matter as soon as possible. Some of the most humorous moments in the film come from their rocky relationship dynamics, and Keke Palmer, who has been more prominent thanks to her wonderful recent supporting turn in Jordan Peele’s “Nope” (2019), and SZA, a musician whose real name is incidentally Solána Imani Rowe, did a good job of conveying to us how much their characters are accustomed to each other.

Once its two main characters and their faulty relationship are established, the screenplay by Syreeta Singleton doles out one episodic comic moment after another for our amusement. There is a silly but undeniably hilarious scene involved with a certain feisty black woman who gets involved with Alyssa’s crummy boyfriend, and then there is an equally funny scene where Dreux and Alyssa try on a local loan company which promises a quick money with a very, very, very high interest (My personal advice from some real experience: Be careful with any kind of loan even if you are quite desperate, because loan is bound to get increased in one way or another unless you are really careful and frugal). My personal favorite scene is the one where Janelle James, who has been mainly known for her Emmy-nominated supporting turn in American TV sitcom series “Abbott Elementary”, makes a brief appearance, and its eventual payoff moment will certainly tickle you for a bloody good reason.

Although it extends its deadline a bit later in the story, the movie keeps bouncing with spirit and humor – even when Alyssa and Dreux inadvertently find themselves threatened by a notorious local gangster boss. It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that our two ladies will eventually find a way to get enough money to solve their impending trouble, but you will be surprised a bit by how they eventually come upon that solution, and you will certainly root for them more than before.

While their characters go up and down together as expected, Palmer and SZA deftly complement each other with good comic chemistry from the beginning to the end, and they also provide some gravitas as fleshing out their respective characters with more human details. As observing more of how serious she is about that precious chance of promotion, we come to understand and care more about Dreux and her sincere aspiration, and then we also come to sense more of how much she has been supported by her imperfect best friend. Although she is your average walking trouble to her best friend’s annoyance and frustration, Alyssa remains loyal and true to Dreux, and, what do you know, she actually turns out to be much more helpful than expected later in the story.

Palmer and SZA are also supported well by a number of various supporting performers who have each own moment to shine around them. Katt Williams effortlessly steals the show as a homeless dude who gives Dreux and Alyssa a bit of wise warning before they go to that loan company, and Lil Rel Howery does not disappoint us at all with his skillful comic timing even though he only appears in one single scene. While Aziza Scott brings some comic tension as a crucial supporting character in the story, Patrick Cage is well-cast as an unlikely love interest for Dreux, and Maude Apatow, who is the elder daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, is also effective as a new neighbor in Dreux and Alyssa’s apartment building.

On the whole, “One of Them Days” is pretty predictable at times, but it delivers some good laughs thanks to not only its two wonderful lead actresses but also the competent direction of director Lawrence Lamont, who incidentally makes a feature film debut here after making several music videos. Although it does not exceed my expectation, the movie amused and then entertained me enough at least, so I will not grumble for now.