This is the story of director Lawrence Lamont’s One Of Them Days: When the first of the month comes along and two longtime friends living in south Los Angeles as roommates realize their hard-earned cash has been stolen,

The two have nine hours to get the rent money in a fast-talking day-in-the-life-of-the-hood comedy that's really a skewed portrait of a community.

Horror, not comedy, has been the go-to movie genre in recent years, but a movie like “One of Them Days,” starring Keke Palmer and, in her big-screen debut, SZA, is a good reminder of what we’ve been missing.

Part of the pleasure of their journey is seeing who they’ll encounter along the way. “One of Them Days” though, blessedly, is not packed with super famous people. Instead, the obstacles for Dreux and Alyssa are simply played by sharp comic actors at the top of their game.

This movie would go into theaters and become a respectable hit and sometimes create sequels. But now far too many comedies, regardless of quality, only show up on streaming services. They're deemed not big enough for the spectacle of an auditorium screen nor are they arty enough to compete for awards.

Its timing is bittersweet — the first Los Angeles-set comedy of 2025, opening mid-wildfires — but Keke Palmer energizes “One of Them Days.”

It’s not good critical practice to date a film review to a certain time and place. A film review should be evergreen, to exist outside of a specific setting or era. It should be able to grasp anyone,