January 29, 2024 – This buddy comedy reminds me of the “Harold and Kumar” comedies. It is about a long, bad day in which everything that can go wrong does go wrong, but things turn out O.K. in the end after a lot of wild, dangerous adventures.

Things unravel quickly in the morning after roommates Dreux (played by Keke Palmer of “Nope”) and Alyssa (played by singer, songwriter and actress SZA) are threatened with eviction from their apartment. Alyssa had unwisely given the rent money to her boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua David Neal) asking him to pay the landlord for her. This is only one of several instances in the movie where Alyssa's actions get her and Dreux into trouble.

Dreux and Alyssa track down Keshawn to get the money, only to find out he does not have the money anymore, and that he has been cheating on Alyssa with a very mean woman named Berniece (Aziza Scott). After sneaking into Bernice's apartment to get the money and causing some damage there, they have to quickly flee with Bernice hot on their trail.

Dreux and Alyssa try several schemes to raise the rent money before the 6 p.m. deadline, including donating blood, and selling a pair of valuable tennis shoes that Alyssa finds hanging from a power line. They manage to make another enemy in addition to Bernice, when local gang banger King Lolo (Amin Joseph of “To Live and Die and Live”) claims the shoes belong to him.

At the same time the two friends are trying to raise money, Dreux also has an important job interview to prepare for. Before the day is over, Dreux and Alyssa become angry with each other. They are shot at, their car is stolen, their apartment catches fire, they are evicted and Bernice ruins the job interview that Dreux almost aced.

I could not make sense of some of this plot, perhaps because I could not follow what everyone was saying all the time. For instance, if King Lolo actually owned a valuable pair of tennis shoes, why leave them hanging on a power line? The slang and accents threw me off somewhat. Nonetheless, this is a very funny movie. These days we need to laugh more, and good comedies like this are few and far between.

Director Lawrence Lamont and screenwriter Syreeta Singleton do a good job organizing a crazy series of events, and the entire cast does a fine job creating a neighborhood of compelling characters around the central pair of Dreux and Alyssa. The relationship between Dreux and Alyssa is a complicated and compelling one, well acted. This movie rates a B.

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