One Of Them Days (2025)

Sometimes you're in the mood for something light and enjoyable, and that can be one of those times when you find it most difficult to pick from the recent selection of movies available to you. Thankfully, I decided to finally make some time for One Of Them Days, and it ended up being a great choice. This is very funny stuff, and both leads (Keke Palmer and SZA) work so well together that I immediately want them paired up in another dozen movies with this tone.

Dreux (Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) are best friends. They're also roommates. They also seem to be at very different points in life, with Dreux hoping to move up the career ladder while Alyssa gets to enjoy spending a lot of her time creating art. Alyssa also spends a lot of her time with her selfish and freeloading man, Keshawn (Joshua David Neal). Keshawn, in turn, causing a big problem when he spends a lot of money that isn't his. It's the rent money that Dreux and Alyssa need to pay their landlord by the end of the day. 

A very standard premise familiar to comedy fans - two best buds racing against the clock to find a solution to one or two major problems - One Of Them Days manages to be as entertaining as it is because of everyone involved all working on the same wavelength. This may be the debut feature of director Lawrence Lamont, as well as writer Syreeta Singleton, but there's a confidence here, perhaps helped by assembling such a consistently brilliant cast. Individual set-pieces are fun and memorable, the whole thing feels as if it has actually been structured with some care (as opposed to certain comedies that feel planned around lengthy improv sessions), and there's a real comfort and warmth in knowing how a number of plot resolutions will surely fall into place by the time the end credits roll. 

I have been a fan of Palmer for some time now, but I had somehow never remembered how funny she could be, despite her main role in the brilliant, hilarious, and short-lived, Scream Queens TV show. SZA is, as far as I'm aware, not known for her acting. I couldn't sing you any of her tunes, but music has been her main artistic endeavour for a number of years. You wouldn't know that this was her film acting debut, considering how easily she lights up the screen, and how well she and Palmer spark off one another. Neal is very funny, playing one of the biggest douchebag boyfriends I've seen in cinema for a while, and the rest of the cast is stuffed with a variety of people doing great work. Katt Williams is a lot of fun as Lucky, someone trying to warn our leads about the dangers of a payday loan. Maude Apatow is enjoyable as Bethany, a young woman who moves into the apartment complex and hopes to be friends with her new neighbours, blissfully unaware of the sticky situation that they're in. Patrick Cage is a handsome man worryingly named "Maniac", which causes Palmer's character to keep trying to resist her attraction to him. Keyla Monterroso Mejia is a smug and callous moneylender, Rizi Timane is the impatient landlord, Amin Joseph is a dangerous figure who shouldn't be crossed (adding to the whole mess when Dreux and Alyssa end up on his radar), and Aziza Scott is the formidable and fiery Berniece.

Everything is bright and busy, even as we move into evening time and closer to that deadline, thanks to the cinematography from Ava Berkofsky, there's a wonderful score from Chanda Dancy, and kudos to costume designer Kairo Courts for some of the more memorable wardrobe choices. Nobody lets the team down though, and it's that consistent attention to detail, as well as brilliant development of everything that feeds into the stream of quality gags, that makes this such an entertaining time.

If it wasn't for the fact that I could see a few of the "punchlines" coming a mile away, this would have been something I considered perfect. As it is, I'll drop one point from my rating. No more though. One Of Them Days is one of them films I will go back to again and again when I want to stay in a good mood for the duration of the runtime.

9/10

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Netflix And Chill: Norbit (2007)

This is where my brain takes me, and I hate it as much as you do. I had seen Norbit many years ago, and I remembered not liking it. I couldn't find anywhere I had reviewed or rated it, however, since my reformed completist attitude to logging my movie viewings on both IMDb and Letterboxd. I saw it was on Netflix and figured I might as well give it a go.

Ouch.

The basic plot revolves around Norbit (Eddie Murphy), a timid young man who was abandoned as a baby and taken in by Mr. Wong (also, ummmmm, Eddie Murphy, in a bit of stunt casting more troubling than most of his multiple roles over the years). Norbit ends up in a relationship with Rasputia, an obnoxious and overpowering woman who doesn't really treat Norbit as he might deserve to be treated. And the adult Rasputia is played by, yes, Eddie Murphy. Things start to look different when an old flame, Kate (Thandie Newton), comes back to town.

The first of a few movies that Murphy starred in while being directed by Brian Robbins, this remains arguably the worst of their collaborations, despite the stiff competition from their other outings. Based on a story by Eddie and his brother, Charlie, the screenplay was then worked on by the two of them, with additional work from Jay Scherick and David Ronn, a writing duo who have a filmography most politely described as a bit hit and miss. Nobody involved can really make the material more palatable, which leaves the comedy falling flat at almost every turn.

Murphy is decidedly okay as Norbit, but only because he's more relatable and human in that incarnation than he is in either the role of Rasputia or Mr. Wong, with both of them being exaggerated caricatures designed to get easy laughs from the low-hanging fruit. Fortunately, although Murphy gets the lion's share of the screentime, there's some enjoyment to be had with the supporting cast. Terry Crews is as fun as ever, Eddie Griffin and Katt Williams have a couple of fun moments, Marlon Wayans is more amusing here than he has been in anything else from the last couple of decades, and Newton is an appealing romantic interest. You also have Cuba Gooding Jr. here, and he ends up being a LOT of fun as the man due to marry Newton, the fly in the ointment of Norbit's potential happiness.

Any fan of Murphy nowadays will know that they have to suffer through some real clunkers if they are completing a journey through his filmography. I've not seen EVERYTHING yet (that Pluto Nash movie has never felt like a high priority), but it's hard to think of anything he could do that is worse than this. It's not funny, it's full of characters you don't ever really care about, and it's just another excuse for Murphy to get made up and act in scenes alongside himself. And did I mention that it wasn't funny? Because it REALLY isn't.

2/10

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