Tag: Better Than Average Bear

Review: Yadang: The Snitch

You may not immediately recognise Hwang Byeng-Gug’s name, despite his quarter-century of credits in the South Korean film industry. Often billed in supporting or additional cast roles, Hwang has also directed features like Wedding Campaign (2005) and SIU (2011). Yet with YADANG: THE SNITCH (야당), he delivers a solid crime thriller that stands comfortably alongside its contemporaries.

The ‘yadang’ of the title refers to underworld slang for criminals who provide information to authorities in exchange for reduced or commuted sentences. In this case, that’s Lee Kang-soo (Kang Ha-neul), falsely imprisoned but now operating as a slick snitch for ambitious Prosecutor Ku Gwan-hee (Yoo Hae-jin). As Ku climbs the political ladder thanks to Lee’s intel, drug squad detective Oh Sang-jae (Park Hae-joon) begins to suspect foul play. A complex game of intrigue plays out as the lives of all three men become increasingly entangled.

There’s a lot going on in Hwang’s film. You may feel like you’ve seen some of it before. You may also feel like it flashes back and forward so often you’re experiencing chronal displacement. Yet at its core, this is a familiar formula executed with confidence, with Hwang ably constructing a complex ecosystem that feeds on drugs and corruption. Between raves and orgies, forced captivity, raids, a second snitch in rich girl Uhm Soo-jin (Chae Won-bin), and multiple chases, there’s almost too much jostling for space in this crowded web.

Yet somehow it works, largely thanks to the three leads. Superstar Kang Ha-neul — perhaps most recently seen by international audiences in Squid Game Season 2 — plays his informant as a cocky huckster to charming effect. Likewise, the ever-reliable Yu Hae-jin seems to relish dancing around the edges of outright villainy.

Slickly shot by Lee Mo-gae (I Saw the Devil, Exhuma), Hwang ensures the action rarely lets up across the two-hour runtime, from the opening car smash to a mid-film sting operation that’s big enough to feel like a finale. When the actual climax arrives, it’s a clever gotcha moment that ties off some of the threads — even if not all of them are fully woven in.

While YADANG can comfortably stand alone, it’s easy to imagine this spinning out into a full franchise — albeit one that has already publicly aligned itself with law and order via an anti-drug partnership with the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency. Either way, Hwang and his team have laid the groundwork for a rich universe of characters we’d be happy to revisit.

2025 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: Hwang Byeng-Gug | CAST: Kang Ha-neul, Yoo Hai-jin, Park Hae-joon, Ryu Kyung-soo, Chae Won-been | DISTRIBUTOR: Plus M Entertainment, Well Go USA Entertainment | RUNNING TIME: 122 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 25 April 2025 (USA)

April 25, 2025
Review: Bullet Train Explosion

If the premise of BULLET TRAIN EXPLOSION (新幹線大爆破) sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been down this track before. The concept of a vehicle set to explode if it drops below a certain speed was the basis for Japan’s The Bullet Train (1975) and later Runaway Train (1980), both of which helped inspire the Hollywood blockbuster Speed (1994).

But from the moment Shinji Higuchi gets his hands on the material—a filmmaker already known for grounding high-concept premises in real-world detail through Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman—there’s a marked stylistic shift from the funky thrills of its 1970s namesake. Opening with a high-energy montage that plays like a trailer for itself, screenwriters Kazuhiro Nakagawa and Norichika Ōba set us on a familiar route before sharply switching tracks.

You know the setup: the Hayabusa 60 Shinkansen is en route to Tokyo when a bomber calls in, threatening that unless they’re paid ¥100 billion, the train will explode if it drops below 100 km/h. On board, dedicated conductor Kazuya Takaichi (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) must work with HQ, the media and a train full of passengers to find a solution and avert disaster.

Half a century on from the original, BULLET TRAIN EXPLOSION arrives in a vastly changed world. The trains, the technology—even the pace of cinematic storytelling—have evolved. Yet if you know Higuchi’s work, you’ll know his focus is on people. Unlike the groovy original, equal parts cop show and disaster flick, this version is keenly attuned to the complexities of modern life. In sleek, high-tech offices, bureaucrats bark tough decisions; passengers are perpetually online; influencers try to wield their platforms for visibility.

Higuchi naturally leans into the media and political angles, but never at the expense of the high-octane sequences. The scenarios may be familiar from earlier versions of the story, yet you may still find yourself white-knuckled as equipment is transferred between parallel trains moving at speed.

There’s a certain cynicism to the mob mentality on display in the film’s first half, but Higuchi saves his sharpest turns for later. The final act shifts subtly into a morality play—one that doesn’t feed on chaos, but instead seeks to restore a little faith in human decency in the face of catastrophe. In 2025, that feels quietly revolutionary.

2025 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Shinji Higuchi | WRITERS: Kazuhiro Nakagawa and Norichika Ōba | CAST: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kanata Hosoda, Non, Takumi Saitoh, Machiko Ono, Jun Kaname, Hana Toyoshima | DISTRIBUTOR: Netflix | RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 23 April 2025

April 23, 2025
Review: The Accountant 2

The Accountant, directed by Gavin O’Connor and released in 2016, was packed with a spreadsheet’s worth of plot lines and formulas that didn’t all quite balance out. Yet in the nine years since its release, there haven’t been many moments when we’ve actively wondered what its protagonist might be up to. Nevertheless, the studio has crunched the numbers and filed a purchase order for a second shipment of action.

THE ACCOUNTANT 2 acknowledges the passage of time between outings. Raymond King (J.K. Simmons), the former Director of the Treasury Department’s FinCEN, is now working in private investigations. While searching for a missing family, he’s shot and killed. Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), now climbing rapidly through the Department ranks after the events of the first film, is drawn into the case. She soon finds herself teaming up with Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), the kick-ass accountant, and his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), as they track down the mysterious assassin Anaïs (Daniella Pineda).

Returning screenwriter Bill Dubuque recognises what worked the first time around—and, pleasingly, some of what didn’t. The core strength of this sequel lies in the mental calculations of its action hero with autism spectrum disorder, and this time they’ve built a whole industry around the non-verbal super-hacker Justine (Allison Robertson, replacing Alison Wright) and her team of students at Harbor Neuroscience. In other words, Batfleck has his Oracle.

Bernthal, whose star has risen considerably through The Punisher and a strong run of film roles over the past decade, has a much-expanded presence this time. Together with Affleck, he delivers some tight, well-executed action sequences, and their easy interplay makes for engaging viewing between the fights. He’s a great counterpoint to Affleck’s more reserved performance, and a joy to watch in most scenes.

On the flip side, Dubuque hasn’t quite left behind the excessive number of plot threads and parenthetical scenes that plagued the first entry. There’s always a lot going on—from the core investigation to Anaïs’ backstory, the brothers’ reconciliation, multiple villains, and even Christian’s love life. From a visit to a romance festival to a full five-minute line dance sequence set to the entirety of “Copperhead Road”, these touches add colour but tend to bloat an already stuffed narrative.

Nevertheless, O’Connor and Dubuque have mostly struck the right balance for a winning formula here. While the first film may not have exactly screamed “franchise”, THE ACCOUNTANT 2 pulls together enough fun elements to suggest a third entry is already in the works.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Gavin O’Connor | WRITERS: Bill Dubuque | CAST: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, J. K. Simmons | DISTRIBUTOR: Amazon MGM Studios (USA), Warner Bros. Pictures (International) | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 24 April 2025 (Australia), 25 April 2025 (USA)

April 23, 2025
Review: Sinners

If ever there was a film of two halves, it’s Ryan Coogler’s sultry southern genre bender. From the moment SINNERS opens—with a bloodied figure entering a church in the Jim Crow South of Mississippi—Coogler firmly establishes a sense of time and place. He also sets up a mystery, one he’s in no hurry to unpack. Like the blues music that runs through the film’s core, it’s unhurried, soulful, steeped in history, and digs deep into the roots to find something resonant in every lingering note.

When twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return to their southern hometown after several years in Chicago—and with ties to one of the city’s more infamous gangsters—they have big plans. Intending to open a gin joint on the outskirts, they rope in their younger cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), a preacher’s son with a gift for the blues. On opening night, a mysterious stranger, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), arrives with a band of musicians looking to play. But no one quite trusts them—and for good reason.

At first, SINNERS feels like a movie you’ve seen before. Coogler loads every frame with period detail and populates the world with figures from the brothers’ past, including old flames (Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku). A stretch of scenes with town shopkeepers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao) focused on low-stakes trades and dealings threatens to drift, but each piece serves a purpose. They all lead to one moment—a fiery visual collision of blues, African folk pasts and funk-drenched futures—that might be one of the most radical things Coogler has put to screen. And then, just as suddenly, he flips the table.

This is the part where most reviews would spoil the turn—some even in the headline. But part of the power of Coogler’s script lies in discovering exactly when and how it veers from sweaty southern gothic into something far more violent and otherworldly. It becomes a siege film, where the last few standing must battle something darker still.

If you’ve already pieced together where it’s going—or simply read about it elsewhere—you might find yourself briefly wondering whether Coogler has painted himself into a corner. At times, it feels less like the characters are fighting an external evil and more like they’re punching and shooting their way out of the film they’ve so carefully constructed up to this point.

Jordan’s dual performance helps ground these tensions, keeping the idea of duality—along with brotherhood, belief, fate—firmly in the audience’s minds. Steeped in music and mysticism, and shot with striking clarity on the expansive canvas of IMAX, Coogler’s touch ensures that SINNERS is anything but neutral.

Having gone from Fruitvale Station straight into the blockbuster arena with Creed and Black Panther, Coogler proves here that prestige drama and box office spectacle aren’t mutually exclusive—but they don’t blend without a bloody fight. Even after the climactic showdown, he still has a few tricks left up his sleeve. It’s a rare thing to be genuinely caught off guard by a film, and Coogler deserves real credit for making such bold, uncompromising choices.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler | WRITERS: Ryan Coogler | CAST: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 137 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 17 April 2025 (Australia), 18 April 2025 (USA)

April 17, 2025
Review: Drop

So many thrillers take the simplest pieces of technology and ask the obvious question: how can this be used to foster abject terror? Christopher Landon—who previously fused horror with time loops and body swaps in Happy Death Day and Freaky—now turns his attention to something we all carry in our pockets and weaponises it.

Violet (Meghann Fahy), a widowed single mother and survivor of spousal abuse, ventures out on her first date in years. Things with Henry (Brandon Sklenar) are going smoothly—until a series of anonymous air-dropped messages begin arriving on her phone. With her son and younger sister Jen (Violett Beane) in immediate danger, Violet has no choice but to follow the phone’s increasingly sinister instructions.

There’s something a little old-fashioned about DROP—but in the most endearing way. Building a thriller around a feature that’s been on phones for over a decade might seem like it missed the boat on techno-horror, but writers Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach instead lean into something more Hitchcockian in pace and tone.

Confined almost entirely to the skyline restaurant where Violet and Henry’s date takes place—with occasional glimpses of Violet’s home via a nanny cam—Landon turns the single location into a pressure cooker. An escape-room style structure builds steadily: a revelation in the bathroom, a note slipped to a piano player, a new element emerging at just the right (or wrong) moment. It’s all in the small details, but they add up to a knuckle-whitening experience.

None of it would work without Fahy’s committed and convincing lead performance—a welcome change from the paper-thin roles women are too often given in the genre. There are also thoughtful moments exploring the nature of abuse and trauma, and the many forms it can take. Sklenar is a strong counterpoint to Fahy, which is all the more impressive given how little of the film is actually about him.

DROP, well, drops the ball just a little in the final act, when it shifts gears into a different kind of thriller. It’s an inevitable turn; the bubble had to burst sometime. But what begins as a taut pressure-cooker loses some of its bite as the scope suddenly widens, racing through a grab-bag of broader genre elements.

Still, Landon delivers a solid game of cat-and-mouse, further cementing his reputation as a purveyor of quality scares. With tension and jump-scares pumping right to the end, DROP will make every bad date look like a dream—and ensure your AirDrop setting is permanently turned off.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Christopher Landon | WRITERS: Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach | CAST: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jeffery Self | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 11 April 2025 (USA), 17 April 2025 (Australia

April 12, 2025
Review: Death of a Unicorn

Unicorns are real—or at least, they exist in the cultural imagination. Over centuries, we’ve imbued them with meaning, transforming them from mythical beasts into symbols of purity, power, and rebellion. Whether lurking in the shadows of Legend, shimmering in the neon haze of Blade Runner, or standing as an emblem of LGBTQIA+ pride, they are everywhere. In Alex Scharfman’s film, however, their presence takes on a different weight—one that leans fully into broad satire.

Given their cultural significance, killing a unicorn sends a powerful message. That’s exactly where DEATH OF A UNICORN (the clue’s in the title) begins. As Elliot (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) drive deep into the wooded mountains on their way to the estate of Elliot’s boss, the terminally ill pharma oligarch Odell (Richard E. Grant), they strike a young unicorn.

What was meant to be a weekend of corporate ladder-climbing quickly turns into something far stranger. When the unicorn’s horn and blood are revealed to have potent properties, a ruthless scramble ensues to dissect and commercialise the carcass. Yet Ridley finds herself drawn to the creatures, and it soon becomes clear the foal was not alone—and its parents are not happy.

Scharfman’s script takes broad swipes at the class divide, establishing a stark dichotomy between the haves and have-nots almost immediately. The long-suffering butler, Griff (played with wonderfully taciturn aplomb by Anthony Carrigan), serves as a reminder of the “silent majority” of working-class labour that the Leopold family and their ilk carelessly exploit. Meanwhile, Elliot’s apparent early heel turn—willingly going along with Odell’s scheme in the hopes of securing some scraps—only reinforces the film’s cynical outlook.

Yet Scharfman never really pushes beyond surface-level commentary, whether on class or the environment. Once the unicorn parents arrive—nightmarish steeds ripped from the darkest corners of mythology—the film shifts gears into full-blown horror. Aside from a few mystical visions hinting at a cosmic connection binding all living things, it largely devolves into spam-in-a-cabin survival mode, all frantic running and gut-spilling gore.

Still, at the heart of the film is the father-daughter relationship between Rudd and Ortega, emotionally estranged following the death of Ridley’s mother. Rudd uncharacteristically downplays some of his natural comedic tendencies as a misguided parent, while Ortega explores a different kind of angsty teen than her Wednesday persona. It’s a fine contrast to the indifferent relationship between Téa Leoni’s matriarch and the singular comedic entitlement of her son, played to perfection by Will Poulter. (Sidebar: how great is it to see Leoni’s comedy chops back on the big screen?)

DEATH OF A UNICORN may not be the biting swing at the rich we desperately need in 2025, but we can still delight in its chaos. Like these creatures of myth, movies have the power to hold up a mirror to our society—and maybe even show us a lighter way. The biggest takeaway? If you do run over a majestic creature with your car, don’t be a jerk about it. Until then, we’ll keep searching for that unicorn.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Alex Scharfman | WRITERS: Alex Scharfman | CAST: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Jessica Hynes | DISTRIBUTOR: A24 (USA), VVS Films (Australia/NZ) | RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 10 April 2025 (Australia), 28 March 2025 (USA)

April 4, 2025
Review: Novocaine No Pain

Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s NOVOCAINE NO PAIN, known in its home territory simply as Novocaine—and, adorably, as Mr. No Pain in Germany—follows a string of their horror films. Yet their latest has more in common with hyperkinetic animation, sending its protagonist on a comically bloody revenge-rescue mission.

Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) leads an insular life due to a congenital insensitivity that prevents him from feeling physical pain. But when his coworker—and unrequited love—Sherry (Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped by a gang of bank robbers dressed as Santa Claus, he throws caution to the wind and uses his condition to try and get her back.

While Taken was far from the first vigilante film of its kind, in the 17 years since its release (yes, 17), countless films have ridden that bandwagon to mid-budget thrills. The gimmick of Caine’s condition—an actual autosomal recessive disorder called congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA)—mainly serves as an excuse for increasingly outlandish and bloody scenarios.

Each of Caine’s encounters with a bad guy, structured like a series of level-based standoffs, ups the ante on the violence. Just when you start wondering how the inability to feel pain could possibly be an advantage, he’s shoving his hand into a deep fryer to retrieve a gun or covering his fists in glass to create murder mittens. Yes, it stretches belief—he might not feel pain, but the body can only take so much, surely? But questioning the logic here is as futile as asking how Wile E. Coyote keeps surviving Acme anvils to the head.

It’s also incredibly funny—often disarmingly so. Berk and Olsen wield violence like Sam Raimi, pushing it so far over the top that you can’t help but laugh. A scene where Caine winds up in a booby-trapped house feels ripped straight from the Looney Tunes playbook, while a brawl in a tattoo parlour against a gargantuan foe punctuates the messy bloodshed with gleeful absurdity.

The chemistry between Quaid and Midthunder is effortlessly charming. Indeed, the film’s first act plays out almost like a traditional romance. Quaid brings an affable energy, a stark contrast to his recent creep in Companion, and not a million miles from the loveable loser persona of Boimler, whom he voices in Star Trek: Lower Decks. After her star-making turn in Prey, it’s a shame Midthunder isn’t headlining another studio action vehicle, but her performance here offers up a few surprises that showcase her range beyond the genre.

By the time the film reaches its chaotic car chase and smackdown finale, if you’re not fully on board, you never will be. But if the whoops and hollers from my cinema session were any indication, once NOVOCAINE NO PAIN finds its audience, they’ll be very appreciative of its heartfelt ridiculousness. Caine may feel nothing, but it would take a truly insensitive cinemagoer not to feel at least a tiny bit of joy from this live-action cartoon.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Dan Berk, Robert Olsen | WRITERS: Lars Jacobson | CAST: Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh, Jacob Batalon | DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 3 April 2025 (Australia), 14 March 2025 (USA)

April 1, 2025
Review: Revelations

Yeon Sang-ho has built a solid reputation on both the South Korean and international cinema scenes, from crossover hits like Train to Busan and Peninsula to the sci-fi outings Psychokinesis and Jung_E. With REVELATIONS (계시록), debuting worldwide on Netflix, he returns to his The King of Pigs roots with a gripping psychological thriller.

From the opening scene, Yeon frames his film as a slow-burning mystery. A young girl nervously enters the church of Pastor Min-chan (Ryu Jun-yeol), seemingly followed by Yang-rae (Shin Min-jae), an ex-con on the sex offender register. Min-chan attempts to recruit Yang-rae to his congregation, but the man quickly flees.

Later, when Min-chan’s own child goes missing, he assumes the criminal is to blame. His next actions have devastating consequences, setting off an impossibly twisty chain of events. As Min-chan scrambles to keep his mounting lies in check, he draws the attention of Detective Yeon-hee (Shin Hyun-been), who is investigating the disappearance of a parishioner—and has her own past connection to Yang-rae.

Yeon’s tightly structured screenplay is vaguely reminiscent of crime stories like Fargo—in the sense that an ostensibly good person makes a simple mistake and becomes so consumed by it that they keep compounding the problem. Yet REVELATIONS is almost entirely devoid of humour, instead lurking in the seedier corners of the city. Min-chan may be driven by divine revelation—hence the title—and there are light supernatural elements woven into Yeon’s story, but in every other respect, this follows the conventions of modern crime thrillers.

Much of the film’s success rests on Ryu Jun-yeol, who plays Min-chan with a compelling mix of cool detachment and desperate rage. A standout scene sees him confronting his wife, Si-yeong (Moon Joo-yeo), about her affair inside a car—a slow-burning moment of almost unbearable tension, heightened by the confined space and Ryu’s ability to shift moods in an instant.

REVELATIONS is a cut above the average thriller, pulling its many narrative threads together for a tense and satisfying climax. Yes, much of the plotting hinges on coincidence, but it remains a brisk affair even at 122 minutes. And in its closing moments, the film leaves plenty to unpack, ultimately challenging the very notions of good and evil.

2025 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: Yeon Sang-ho | WRITER: Yeon Sang-ho | CAST: Ryu Jun-yeol, Shin Hyun-been, Shin Min-jae, Moon Joo-yeon | DISTRIBUTOR: Netflix | RUNNING TIME: 106 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 21 March 2025

March 24, 2025
Review: Appalachian Dog

The drama and social upheaval of wartime have been well covered in cinema, particularly in stories set during the Second World War. With APPALACHIAN DOG, actor Colin Henning makes his debut as writer-director, shifting the focus to something quieter but no less powerful: the struggle of returning home to a world that has moved on without you—and the impact on those who have built new lives in your absence.

It’s 1946, deep in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and Marion (Georgia Morgan) welcomes her husband, Teddy (Henning), home from the war. Eager to reclaim his role as a tailor, he quickly discovers that his shaky hands and fading vision make sewing an impossible task—a job that Marion and her friend Peggie (Hayleigh Hart Franklin) have managed for the past five years.

But that’s not the only thing that’s changed. Time apart has reshaped their lives, and it’s possible they both prefer the distance. Marion has carved out her own way of running the business, as well as forming distinct relationships with Peggie and their neighbor Cate (Brooke Elizabeth).

A Southern Gothic drama reportedly inspired by everything from Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock to Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, Henning’s debut is the definition of slow-burning. From the opening moments, the film comes pre-loaded with an unspoken tension, and much of its power lies in how long Henning keeps his narrative pistol cocked. This isn’t a post-war thriller, but an intensely interior drama—one that lingers in the spaces between what’s left unsaid.

Having taken on triple duties as writer, director, and star, Henning occasionally lets some of the subtext slip too bluntly into the dialogue. There are some late revelations and a curiously touching, if occasionally awkward, exploration of emerging sexuality—though this is slightly undercut by three separate but near-identical moments of affection being rebuffed.

Nevertheless, Henning and cinematographer Aidan Macaluso frame the film beautifully, making full use of the titular landscapes. Coupled with a low-key soundscape—virtually devoid of a musical score and instead leaning on the natural sounds of the environment—Henning’s lingering shots of objects and people create much of the film’s persistent and understated tension.

APPALACHIAN DOG carves out a distinct corner of the world it inhabits. When the tension finally breaks, it does so slowly and deliberately, culminating not in catharsis but in a moment of mutual understanding. Henning marks himself as a voice to watch, and it will be interesting to see what he does next.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Colin Henning | WRITER: Colin Henning | CAST: Georgia Morgan, Hayleigh Hart Franklin, Brooke Elizabeth, Colin Henning, Monica Rae Summers Gonzalez, Aaron J. Stewart , Annie McLean | DISTRIBUTOR: BUFFALO 8 Distribution | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 21 March 2025

March 18, 2025
Review: One of Them Days

ONE OF THEM DAYS might be the feature debut of both director Lawrence Lamont and writer Syreeta Singleton, but it comes with one hell of a heritage. Their work on television’s Rap Sh!t and Insecure with Issa Rae has directly led here, and the latter serves as co-producer on a comedy that’s both grounded and intentionally absurdist.

From the opening shots, with the radio blaring news of another scorching day in California, Lamont and Singleton firmly establish their setting of South Los Angeles. Hard-working waitress Dreux (Keke Palmer), who lives with her friend Alyssa (SZA) in a rundown apartment block, gets a shot at a higher-paying gig—but the world seems to be conspiring against her.

Alyssa’s boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua Neal) blows their rent money, and their strict landlord threatens eviction if they don’t pay up by 6 p.m. So begins a ticking clock of maladies and mishaps as their fortunes rise and fall on the streets of LA.

As the first major theatrical R-rated Black female-led comedy in the better part of a decade, ONE OF THEM DAYS plays straight to a knowing core audience. The comedy can be broad in places—like the opening gag of one of Dreux’s coworkers being flung across the room by a malfunctioning dishwasher—while also delivering razor-sharp, instantly meme-worthy lines (“You look real alopecious today”).

While speaking specifically to the Black experience in LA, there’s a universality to the humour for anyone struggling to make it to the next level in the face of a cost-of-living crisis. A visit to a payday loan office with its 1,900.5% interest rates, donating blood for rent money and pie, or the ease with which the sole white girl Bethany (Maude Apatow) navigates life in the same apartment complex—all ring painfully true.

If there are occasional misses in the comedy, the consistent home run is the on-screen chemistry of Palmer and SZA. It’s hard to believe SZA is making her acting debut here—her natural back-and-forth with Palmer makes it feel like they’ve been a double act for years. Here’s hoping for future collaborations.

ONE OF THEM DAYS works both as a hangout buddy comedy and a slice-of-life portrait of LA, showcasing both its stars and the incredibly talented people behind the camera. Not every moment lands, but the hit rate is high enough to keep you chuckling for the duration—and maybe even going back for seconds.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Lawrence Lamont | WRITERS: Syreeta Singleton | CAST: Keke Palmer, SZA, Katt Williams, Maude Apatow | DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Releasing | RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 March 2025 (Australia), 17 January 2025 (USA)

March 7, 2025