One of Them Days is indeed about one of those days when a whole lot of things go wrong for our girls—Alyssa and Dreux, played by SZA and Keke Palmer, respectively. Both the actors pretty much carry the story on their shoulders and help all the situational comedy skits and jokes land right. The result is a movie that seems a lot like the kind of thing Sean Baker would make, but maybe a bit too loud and a little less deep in comparison. That’s not a criticism, by the way; I’m just describing the nature of it. There’s also a hint of a caper comedy element in it that I really dig here. The movie ends quite neatly, but if you still have any confusion, this article is going to clear that for you.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Film?
Waitress Dreux and her best friend Alyssa, who’s a struggling painter, live in a (mostly Black) LA neighborhood where they face regular trouble paying the rent. The landlord, Uche, is a no-nonsense guy who constantly threatens to evict them. Dreux’s fortunes might just change, though, as she’s due for an interview as a franchise manager for the restaurant she works for. Naturally, it’s a huge day for her, as she plans to take enough rest after her grueling night shift, get her hair done, and then go to the interview in a calm state of mind. Sadly, that can’t happen here, as the movie is literally called “One of Them Days.”
So Dreux has a stupid fight with local hairdresser Jameel, who refuses to do her hair. Then she finds Uche banging at her door asking for rent. That surprises her, as just a while ago, Alyssa told her that she took care of the rent. When she mentions that to Uche, he calls them both liars and threatens to throw them out by 6 o’clock in the evening if the rent is not paid. It soon becomes clear that Alyssa may have messed it up by handing over the rent money to her boyfriend Keshawn, asking him to deliver it to Uche. Keshawn has also been living in the apartment for a while, and Dreux is not at all happy with that. The dude doesn’t work and doesn’t contribute a penny; his only worth (to Alyssa) is a giant-sized manhood. That’s the only reason Alyssa can’t bring herself to throw him out, as it’s hard for her to resist the temptation. Anyway, just as Dreux and Alyssa realize what kind of situation they’re in, Keshawn bolts. Thanks to the guy leaving his phone in the apartment, Alyssa and Dreux figure out that he’s going to Bernice—a seductive woman he recently met with whom he’s going to cheat on Alyssa. I should probably mention here that the relationship is not ironclad in the first place, and it’s definitely more lust than any substantial romantic feeling. Upon reaching Bernice’s place, Dreux attempts to stall Bernice while Alyssa tries to steal the money back from Keshawn. Too bad he has already ‘invested’ it, and his excuse is he was doing it for Alyssa only. Things get further chaotic when Alyssa and Dreux accidentally hurt Bernice while leaving in a hurry. To their surprise, Bernice makes it personal and decides to come for them. So now they have to get the money to somehow avoid eviction while also hiding from a raging Bernice.
Do Dreux and Alyssa get the money?
Well, there’s no easy way to make 1500 dollars in about six hours or so, but Dreux and Alyssa try. It’s another matter that they’re saddled with horrible luck for the day. How else would you explain the whole blood bank fiasco where Dreux ends up giving as many as four packs of blood for absolutely nothing? They do try the easy way, though, i.e., taking a loan from an instant money lending service called ‘Payday whenever.’ They don’t get it, though, due to their abnormally low credit scores. The movie could have either done away with the character of Lucky—a man who keeps asking our girls to not take the loan—or developed him a little bit, but they ultimately decided not to.
Speaking of supporting character development, they have nailed it with Maniac. That’s not a real name, of course. He’s an intense guy from the neighborhood who seems to be taken with Dreux. And from the way she acts all shy and flustered when he’s around, it’s clear that the attraction is very much mutual. For the longest possible time, though, you and Dreux both wonder if the guy is bad news. The doubt intensifies when Dreux notices an axe in Maniac’s car. He’s ultimately revealed to be a firefighter, though, and a really good one.
Coming back to our main plot, luck smiles on Alyssa when she spots a pair of almost brand new Air Jordans hanging from an overhead power cable, just like that. But when she tries to get to them, she gets electrocuted and then falls on Dreux (which practically saves her from getting her bones broken), and the two end up in an ambulance. On the way to the hospital, they escape as they have no money to pay the medical bills. Despite all this chaos, Alyssa hasn’t let go of the shoes, which they put up online. It doesn’t take long for them to get a response, and the buyer agrees to pay 2500 dollars in cash. However, the man tricks Dreux into giving them away for 1500. That still solves the rent problem, but first, Dreux has to do the interview. Fortunately for her, even after all this madness, that seems to be going remarkably well until Bernice arrives outside the office and creates a scene by heckling Alyssa. Dreux has no other choice but to step in and save her friend from Bernice’s wrath, which does not paint a good picture to one of the interviewers, Shayla. Dreux pleads and tries to explain her situation, but Shayla’s reaction pretty much tells her that her chances of landing the big job are over. Not to mention, Bernice snatches the rent money away before leaving. When she gets to know it’s Alyssa whose shortsightedness caused the whole mess (and cost her the job)—as she sent a selfie to Keshawn, which helped Bernice figure out where they are—Dreux expectedly gets mad. What’s even worse than that? A call from local gangster King Lobo, who says that pair of shoes belonged to him, and now he wants 5000 dollars by 10 o’clock that night. Needless to say, if they don’t pay up, death will fall upon them.
Do Dreux and Alyssa manage to save the day?
Upon reaching home, Dreux and Alyssa (who are still mad at each other, by the way) find out all their stuff is outside of the house already, which has to be Uche’s doing. But it really doesn’t matter whether you have a roof above your head when you’re looking at certain death. However, when Dreux argues with Uche that he can’t legally throw them out until the day is over, the landlord promises to move all their stuff back inside if they pay the rent by night.
Clueless about what to do in a situation like this, Alyssa and Dreux sit on their couch and chair, now laid on the sidewalk, and keep pondering. That’s when luck smiles upon them for the second time as their new neighbor, Bethany—a young white girl with a dog that takes a dump everywhere—asks them whether they’re doing a yard sale, looking at all their things. As it happens, Bethany is interested in one of Alyssa’s paintings. That’s not all; she is also an influencer with many followers in the art field. Her apartment—which has every basic amenity (unlike the ones of Dreux and Alyssa)—makes it clear why Uche is prioritizing bringing tenants like Bethany in and can’t wait to throw our girls out; it’s purely financial.
Bethany, however, turns out to be a godsend for Dreux and Alyssa as they quickly arrange an art party—displaying Alyssa’s paintings—and invite all her important contacts. The event is a runaway success, and more importantly, our girls get their hands on the money they need to save themselves from death. Shayla attending the party and Dreux getting the opportunity to fix things is very predictable, but aren’t we all glad that it happened? All that’s left is handing over the money to Lobo, but when the time comes, Alyssa decides to play wolf as she doesn’t want to give their hard-earned money to a threatening thug like that. Lobo is not happy about that and reacts exactly how you’d expect—by terrorizing people. Chaos breaks out, and our girls hide inside their apartment. They’re surprised to find Keshawn there, who has come to apologize and patch up with Alyssa. He has gone all out by going the distance, setting up romantic evenings with many candles burning all over the apartment. What he didn’t consider, however, is Lobo breaking in, tripping on one of the candles, and setting the whole apartment on fire. Alyssa, Dreux, Keshawn, and (still unconscious) Lobo all get trapped. But firefighter Maniac arrives right on time with his team and rescues everyone.
Now, the only thing that some of you might find a bit confusing is Alyssa’s plan of beating Lobo. When they were in the ‘Paycheck Whenever’ building earlier that day, she spotted a photo of Lobo on the wall, among many others. What didn’t strike her at that time was that all those people took loans and didn’t pay the money back. The money lending company was actually looking for all of them. Lobo might be a mighty big gangster, but he is not bigger than a loan shark—as this is the real world, after all. Although it’s never mentioned, I’m quite certain that whoever is running “Paycheck Whenever” is way more powerful than a street gangster with a laughable name like King Lobo. So when Lobo came to receive the money and the girls started playing hooky, Alyssa actually called that company instead of the police. The rest is not hard to figure out. Lobo is picked up, and he is going to receive quite a beating for sure. Alyssa and Dreux also receive a measly reward of 30 dollars for their valiant effort.
The apartment is completely destroyed in the fire, but thanks to Uche already taking the stuff out before, our girls don’t end up losing much. Uche, however, is now answerable to the law for violating fire safety protocols, and with Maniac having a personal stake in the matter (if you know what I mean), the landlord is not going to get away.
What happens to the girls in the end?
I really like how director Lawrence Lamont chooses to not end One of Them Days with just Lobo and Uche getting apprehended. We finally get to see our girls chilling at Mama Ruth’s (a motherly neighbor who was introduced early on in the movie) place, having Hot Cheetos Martini. That’s the drink the girls keep talking about in the movie, by the way, and it only makes sense that they finally get to have it when their lives are on the way to getting sorted. As they gulp down the refreshingly spicy drink, we get a sort of epilogue in the form of text on screen. Alyssa becomes an art sensation, Dreux kills it as a franchise manager, and also becomes her best friend’s manager and business partner. While Dreux and Maniac’s relationship takes off, Alyssa dumps Keshawn for good. He does get into a thing with Bethany, though, so I guess it’s a win-win for everyone. All that matters for us is our girls, Alyssa and Dreux, are doing well with their credit score finally starting to improve. If this is not a neat ending, like I said, then what is?
