Glastonbury headliner compared to Bridget Jones in unexpected film debut

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Keke Palmer and SZA’s critically praised buddy comedy One of Them Days sees two best friends race against the clock to meet a life-and-death ultimatum. 

When roommates Dreux (Keke) and Alyssa (SZA) realise their rent money has been stolen, they have less than 12 hours to procure the funds, get Dreux to a life-changing job interview and avoid any more disasters. What could possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, as their day goes from bad to worse soon enough the threat of eviction isn’t the biggest problem on their hands.

Our dynamic leading duo flex all their comedy skills from the physically absurd to the emotionally chaotic as you’re left rooting for Dreux (cool, calm and collected) and Alyssa (scatterbrained with the best intentions) to succeed against all the odds. 

‘I think Dreux is so similar to me in the fact that she’s trying to break out of the systemic challenges in order to get somewhere else.

‘But she keeps being faced with them in a way that she’s not necessarily leaning into or understanding,’ Keke, who also serves as executive producer on the project, tells Metro ahead of the movie’s UK release.

SZA and Keke Palmer play chaotic best friends, Alyssa and Dreux (Picture: CTMG)

The former Disney star pointed out that where Dreux struggles to fall back on her community, she has always appreciated just how much support she has had from her own. 

She continued: ‘For me, my family and my community has always been what’s allowed me to excel, even in the corporate space of entertainment.’

Since her days on True Jackson: VP, Keke’s career has only gone from strength to strength as the multi-hyphenate makes her mark as a producer, screenstar and music artist.

And she’s not run out of steam yet.

‘You start out doing being the chef or the server, the actor or the performer. And I think all of our hopes is to be able to grow beyond that and be able to do what Tyler Perry has done.’

These ambitions are ‘a big part of what she put into the character’.

Now hailed a comedy icon, Keke honed her humour in her youth thanks to a ‘very fun and silly’ family and exposure to multi-cam sitcoms. 

She waxes lyrical about Norman Lear, Whoopi Goldberg (especially in Sister Act), Fran Descher and even fellow Disney star Raven-Symoné who she says is ‘hilarious’.