Dreux has an interview for a better job at 4 p.m. By 6 p.m., she and her roommate Alyssa also need to find $1,500 in rent money or lose their apartment. They had the money. Alyssa gave it to her boyfriend to pay the landlord, and he spent it on his own T-shirt business instead.
That is the problem Keke Palmer and SZA spend One of Them Days trying to fix. Lawrence Lamont’s 2025 comedy follows the friends around Los Angeles as they look for ways to get paid immediately. Some attempts are sensible. Others are so obviously dangerous that part of the fun is waiting to see which friend will object first. Palmer and SZA are very funny together, even when the trouble around them starts to feel unnecessary.
Dreux has two deadlines and an unreliable friend
Palmer plays Dreux, a waitress who wants to become a manager for the restaurant chain. We see her handling customers before the rent crisis begins, so her hopes for the interview feel reasonable. She is good at the work. Now she has to find the rent twice while trying to look prepared for a promotion. Dreux’s frustration is easy to understand, and Palmer can make a worried look just as funny as a shouted complaint.
SZA’s Alyssa is an artist who trusts her boyfriend far more than he deserves. She is slower to panic and quicker to suggest another plan. In their conversations, Palmer keeps pushing for an answer while SZA responds as though the situation might still work out. Their different reactions make ordinary exchanges entertaining. Neither has to explain years of friendship for us to believe they know each other well.
Alyssa is also the person most likely to test your patience. Her loyalty to Keshawn keeps putting Dreux in a difficult position, even though Dreux has her own future to think about that afternoon. SZA makes Alyssa pleasant company, but some of her choices are harder to forgive than the film allows. The friendship would be more convincing if Alyssa had to do more to make up for them.
The people in their apartment complex help explain why the women want to stay. Mama Ruth looks after her neighbors, while hairdresser Jameel is useful without being especially dependable. New tenant Bethany gets a much friendlier reception from the landlord than the existing residents do. The difference in how he treats his tenants is easy to notice, without needing a long speech about the neighborhood.
The search for rent money brings the best jokes
At a payday-loan office, Dreux and Alyssa try to borrow the cash they need. A loan like this is meant to cover an immediate bill, but the extra charges can leave someone owing far more than they borrowed. The employee’s cheerful sales pitch becomes much less welcoming once she sees their credit scores. The joke is how quickly an offer of help turns into an insult. Keyla Monterroso Mejia is wonderfully rude without losing that customer-service smile.
Katt Williams plays Lucky, who warns them against taking the loan. The advice is useful; the trouble is getting anyone to listen while they are desperate. His interruptions make the visit funnier because he is responding to a specific bad idea. The supporting actors work best when they have a problem to react to, rather than simply arriving to be loud.
The women also try donating blood for money. Janelle James plays the worker handling the procedure, and her lack of competence quickly becomes alarming. This is a much messier kind of joke than the loan interview. Watching the women realize what they have agreed to is funny, but the scene keeps adding mishaps after we already understand the danger. The physical comedy can go on too long.
Their plan to sell an expensive pair of sneakers is even riskier. The shoes are hanging from a power line, which should be enough reason to leave them alone. The women go after them anyway. This joke depends on enjoying a very bad idea even when you can guess someone will get hurt.
As they hurry between schemes, they become tired, change clothes and attract more trouble. The changes in their appearance make the passing day easy to follow. Palmer still has to bring Dreux back to the question of her interview: how is she supposed to impress an employer after all this? The job remains worth caring about, even during the sillier detours.
The later threats are less funny than the arguments
The search for cash eventually involves people who threaten more than eviction. An angry pursuer or a dangerous new demand gives the women another reason to run, but there are enough of these encounters that the last stretch becomes less surprising. The writing also adds a familiar falling-out between the friends. We already know why Dreux is upset with Alyssa. Another argument does not tell us much more about them.
Still, the awkward pauses and quick replies between Palmer and SZA kept us interested more often than the broadest jokes put us off. That is why our Pixel Twelve score is 7.5/10. The loan-office visit and Dreux’s effort to stay ready for work are strong enough to recommend the film, despite the less convincing danger near the end. If you enjoy rude dialogue and messy physical comedy, there is plenty to laugh at. If a friend's repeated bad decisions usually annoy you more than amuse you, Alyssa may make this a harder watch.
The film runs 97 minutes and carries a U.S. R rating for language throughout, sexual material and brief drug use. Hulu lists it among its September 30, 2026 U.S. catalog additions. It is a 2025 film, and streaming availability differs by country.
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