One Of Them Days - How The Female Buddy Comedy Is A Breath Of Fresh Air
By Arya Desai
Image Courtesy of ‘One Of Them Days’
A proper buddy comedy is for viewers who crave an escape from the stresses of daily life. Set with a zany storyline and charming cast of characters, trekking to the theater to watch these stories is a great way to decompress and relax. The only issue…most of these films feature male leads and are made by men.
Films like Hot Tub Time Machine or The Hangover, albeit hilarious in their rite as pop-culture hits, are made for the heterosexual male audience, who can understand certain inside jokes, references, and concepts on a deeper level. Meanwhile, female buddy comedies are typically not as easily received, like the 2023 Adele Lim film, Joy Ride, which did well with critics but bombed at the box office, according to a Forbes article.
However, there is light on the horizon for female buddy comedies, and it lies with the 2025 Issa-Rae-produced buddy comedy, One of Them Days.
The film, which has already earned its spot as one of the biggest domestic office hits of the year (Collider), features a star-studded cast led by Keke Palmer as Dreux, a determined and goal-oriented waitress with the hopes of bettering her life, and Solána Imani Rowe (better known as SZA), as Alyssa, her laid back artist roommate.
When Alyssa’s deadbeat boyfriend, Keshawn (Joshua David Neal) spends their hard-earned rent money, the pair embark on a determined chase to earn it back by the end of the day before they are evicted.
From this point on in the story, One of Them Days’ unexpected and overcomplicated misadventure begins with all the familiar elements of a typical buddy comedy, because almost everything that can go wrong, does.
For one, Dreux and Alyssa’s simple task of earning the rent money back is complicated by a cast of wild antagonists: Keshawn’s angry mistress, Berniece (Aziza Scott), their temperamental landlord, Uche (Rizi Timane), and even a gang led by the dangerous King Lolo (Amin Joseph).
Physical humor and slapstick aren’t shied away from either, evidenced in graphic scenes like Dreux and Alyssa’s blood bank visit gone wrong, or the stunt Dreux pulls to retrieve a pair of vintage Nike shoes left on an electrical pole, that lands her in the hospital.
Image Created by Arya Desai in Canva
Details in the script make the humor of the film understandable for a female audience who may see their problems reflected in the characters, such as Dreux’s frustration at half-done hair, Alyssa’s challenge to leave her toxic but attractive boyfriend, and the wing woman dynamic Alyssa adopts when Dreux is near her crush, Maniac (Patrick Cage II).
A viral moment from The Late Show with Seth Myers touches on these good-humored tidbits that are typical of a buddy comedy, “You have a line in the film…that men are really ugly when they cry,” Seth quips playfully.
However, the real genius of One of Them Days lies in the buddy of the “buddy comedy,” because Dreux and Alyssa’s friendship dynamic, although flawed, is realistic and relatable, especially for young women of color.
In a recent interview for Black Film and TV, Director Lawrence Lamont touches on how his leading ladies reminded him of the women in his life as an adolescent, “I grew up in the Detroit version of the jungles, and my mom was Dreux and Alyssa, so I saw these characters in so many people that I personally know.”
Issa Rae echoed Lamont’s sentiment about the realism of these characters in another interview with the outlet, “I mine from the relationships that I have, I don’t need to go out and find it.”
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At the end of the day, both characters navigate the real challenges of being a young woman struggling to navigate her place in the world as an independent adult. Though both women have drastically different approaches to getting there, they succeed only when working together by using each other's strengths.
For example, Dreux’s business-savvy nature complements that of Alyssa’s artistic abilities, when the women put on a successful art show which earns them both professional exposure and makes them the rent money back.
Additionally, the film’s central struggle carries a deeper meaning about the socio-economic issues its leads face as young, black women. Both undoubtedly feel the added pressure of their identity throughout the film: Dreux believes she must portray a certain image to get her position as franchise manager, while Alyssa struggles to take her artist career to a professional level. Not to mention, the gentrification of “the jungles” is teased several times.
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Considering One of Them Days is not only led by two women of color but written and produced by a largely black female team, this makes the film's triumph all the more important in changing Hollywood’s culture when it comes to buddy comedy.
After all, Keke Palmer emphasizes the importance of supporting black, female comedy, perfectly in an interview with Teen Vogue earlier this year about the film, “It was a dream because I'm also trying to be like, ‘Women can be that, too…it's not even like I'm trying to force it. It's just like, give us a chance to show you motherf*ckers what we can do.”
