We finally have our first look at SZA’s acting era. The Grammy-winning “Kill Bill” singer is starring alongside Keke Palmer in a new buddy comedy called One Of Them Days, in which her character probably would have fared better if she actually did kill her ex. (The Tarantino-inspired music video for that song might as well have kicked off this new chapter in SZA’s career, by the way. It’s great.)
The upcoming film follows two best friends and roommates, Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA), who, per the film’s logline, “are about to have One of Them Days. When they discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a comical race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.”
The tone of the film seems to have been plucked directly from a classic, early 2000s slapstick comedy. In one scene, SZA electrocutes herself on a telephone pole trying to claim a pair of retro Jordans someone threw on the wire. In another, Palmer squirts some extra ketchup-y blood onto an entire donation center, with no help from a nurse played by Abbott Elementary‘s Janelle James. (Apparently it was her first day.) At one point, Palmer also lives out this writer’s personal hell: being laughed at by an agent who’s “never seen a credit score this low.” Now that’s scary enough to qualify this as a full-on horror flick.
One Of Them Days was directed by Lawrence Lamont, who previously worked on Issa Rae’s late, great Rap Sh!t. Rae herself is also involved as a producer, alongside Syreeta Singleton, another member of the original Rap Sh!t team, who wrote the screenplay. The film also stars Maude Apatow, Lil Rel Howery, and Katt Williams and opens in theaters January 24.
English (US) ·