Earlier this year, we got a shitty movie about a woman who gets herself into criminal dealings and mortal danger, debasing herself in every possible way and burning every bridge in sight, all because she needs to raise a few thousand dollars in one day or get evicted. That movie was called Night Always Comes.

In the process of reviewing that disappointing stain on my beloved hometown, I recalled another movie from earlier in the year. Given that One of Them Days was an early January release and the trailers sold it as an obnoxious comedy, I decided to pass on the film when it first hit theaters. But when I saw another film with a similar premise crash and burn, I decided to circle back and see how the premise worked when it was played for laughs. Better, as it turns out, but not by much. In fact, it suffers from a few of the same problems.

This is the story of Dreux and Alyssa, a pair of roommates and longtime best friends respectively played by Keke Palmer and SZA. Dreux is the “straight man”, hustling away at her waitressing job so she can get a shot at a promotion to franchise manager. Alyssa is the goofball, an aspiring painter and perpetual fuckup, getting by on vibes, prayers, and hunches. What’s worse, she’s a notoriously bad judge of character, as proven by her latest beau (a self-absorbed loser named Keshawn, played by Joshua Neal).

Enter Uche (Rizi Timane) a pissed-off immigrant from some third-world country who just happens to be the landlord to Dreux and Alyssa’s apartment complex. And of course he’s taking any excuse to evict tenants so he can make room for wealthier and whiter clientele (like the vapid new neighbor Bethany, played by Maude Apatow).

Anyway, it turns out that Uche doesn’t have his rent money on the first of the month because Dreux was stupid enough to trust the rent money to Alyssa, who in turn was stupid enough to trust it with Keshawn. Who promptly disappears with the money as soon as the rent comes due. So now Dreux and Alyssa have nine months to try and either recover the cash or make it all over again. Hilarity ensues.

Right off the bat, we’ve got a major problem: This is an Idiot Plot. This is a story powered entirely by stupid characters making irrational decisions for no reason whatsoever. It’s transparently obvious that these characters are consistently making decisions based on what will be funnier, rather than what will actually make sense in the moment.

Unfortunately, the joke gets old quickly and the characters lose all sympathy before the first act is even over. And when the characters get desperate enough that they have no reason to say or do anything that doesn’t get them more money, it makes for boringly one-dimensional lead characters.

What’s worse, the characters’ endemic incompetence does a direct disservice to the film’s themes. From start to finish, the film wants to make all these huge statements about the predatory nature of late-stage capitalism. We’re repeatedly shown how poverty is a self-perpetuating cycle, and everyone’s forced to desperate and creative measures while living hand-to-mouth. And of course the heavy emphasis on black culture goes a long way toward demonstrating racial inequality.

There are several moments when those good intentions and relevant statements come through loud and clear (the payday loans sequence comes immediately to mind). We even get some moments when the desperation leads to barbed comedy. But then these characters set themselves back for no reason whatsoever. There comes a point when the characters are down not because the system is rigged against them, but because they’re the kind of irresponsible dunces who make their own misery.

Case in point: There comes a time when Alyssa parks in a section that’s clearly a No Parking space. Dreux explicitly points out that it’s a No Parking space and the car is going to get towed. But Alyssa doesn’t even acknowledge any of that, our characters leave the car there anyway, and come back to find a big empty space where their car used to be. That’s not predatory capitalism, that’s our lead characters being hopeless self-defeating dumbasses.

Luckily, things do finally turn around in the third act. That’s the moment when the characters finally start calling each other out on their shit and owning up to their various fuckups. This is also when our two leads finally start using their heads and making the most of what they have. We even get a neat scene of the entire community rallying together in solidarity. Damn shame we didn’t get anything like that until the climax, this is what the whole movie should’ve been.

I might further add that faith is a huge central theme. From start to finish, the characters all make a big deal out of their Christian faith that God will provide. Sometimes, it’s a neat commentary on the unifying cultural force of religion. Mostly, however, God is invoked as an excuse for inaction. Because why bother trying to actually do anything when the characters could simply pray and wait until a solution falls right into their lap with comedic timing? On the other hand, when the system is so far broken that there’s nothing left to do but pray for ourselves and our neighbors, why not?

One of Them Days does rally toward the end, but it’s not enough. There’s no getting around the fact that these characters are too stupid for their own good, wearing down both the bullshit plot and the one-note humor. That said, at least the film clearly has its heart in the right place, with sincere anti-capitalist messaging and a few genuinely funny moments.

It all evens out to a film that’s bad, but harmless. It’s obnoxious, but at least the film has personality and it’s not utterly devoid of taste, which is far more than I could say for Night Always Comes. I wouldn’t recommend it — I’m sure as hell glad I didn’t pay to see this on a big screen — but the potential is there. Of course Keke Palmer is a proven talent, but co-lead SZA, director Lawrence Lamont, and screenwriter Syreeta Singleton all made their feature debuts with this picture. I’ll be interested to see what they do next.

…Which is apparently a sequel. That’s in development. What the fuck.