The 1990's was the height of mainstream Black cinema. So many films, including comedies, were produced. One of the most successful was Friday (1995) starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. The film was so successful that it spawned two sequels. It seems as if 30 years later, writer Syreeta Singleton (Rap Sh!t and Insecure), along with producer Issa Rae, were inspired to do a female-led version of Friday, a film about two unemployed African Americans in Los Angeles who become indebted and in danger from a drug dealer with a looming deadline. Singleton's screenplay feels like a homage.
Like with Friday, this film becomes about its two protagonists trying to pay back a large sum of money they owe in less than a day or else bad things could happen, including their deaths. The gimmick of Friday is that the majority of it was limited to one location, the main character's front porch. The rest of the film didn't see its protagonists venture further than the city block where they lived. This film has its two leads venture further than one block and further than their own neighborhood.
Keke Palmer (Nope and Hustlers) stars as Dreux Jones, a waitress at a diner who wants to become a manager. In order to do so, she has to apply at the office of the corporation that owns the diner. The film starts on the day of her interview for that job. Unfortunately, she also learns that her rent is due that same day and if she doesn't pay by today, she'll be evicted. She then has to find a way to raise the money in nine hours. The comedy is the various methods or ways that she tries to get that cash.
SZA is a Grammy-winning, R&B singer. She's also an Oscar-nominee in the category of Best Original Song for her work on "All the Stars" with Kendrick Lamar on the soundtrack of Black Panther (2018). She's mainly done music videos, but she did one episode of Insecure back in 2020. This is her theatrical feature debut as Alyssa, the roommate and best friend to Dreux. Alyssa is an artist, a painter who isn't really making a lot of money herself. Alyssa is supportive of her friend, but she doesn't seem to have any encouragement for own career. Part of her probably wants to be a sugar baby and not have to work. She's smart, but she could be considered more the airhead or more the ditzy one. While Dreux comes up with solutions, Alyssa usually comes up with complications or more problems.
The dynamic isn't exactly the same, but it feels like Dreux and Alyssa's friendship is akin to that of Shawna and Mia from Rap Sh!t. That show along with Insecure were ultimately about Black female relationships. Insecure came down to the dynamic between the characters of Issa and Molly, but the personalities of Issa and Molly weren't like that of Dreux and Alyssa. The tone of that series wasn't like this film. Singleton's script and Lawrence Lamont's direction have a sillier tone. The tone of Rap Sh!t wasn't all that silly, but again the dynamic between its two women characters is closer to that of Dreux and Alyssa, where Dreux is more straight and narrow, more professional, while Alyssa is more wild and carefree, more artistic.
A lot of the humor comes from the slew of characters that Dreux and Alyssa encounter. The two go from place to place, trying to raise money. At each place, they have to deal with some person who ends up being a quirky character of some sort. Those quirky characters add a little spice here and there, including Emmy nominee, Janelle James (Abbott Elementary) and Lil Rel Howery (Get Out), as well as Dewayne Perkins (The Upshaws and The Blackening) and Katt Williams (Wild 'n Out and Friday After Next).
However, the true standouts are the two so-called antagonists in the film. Like Friday, this film does have a drug dealer as the third act villain named King Lolo, played by Amin Joseph who also played a drug dealer in the FX series Snowfall (2017). This film doesn't establish this drug dealer as much as Friday establishes its drug dealer. In Friday, its drug dealer felt like more of a presence throughout. Here, King Lolo feels like he comes out of nowhere in the third act.
Joshua David Neal, in his theatrical feature debut, plays Keshawn, the boyfriend of Alyssa. Without spoiling what happens, he becomes a bit of an antagonist. There's a similar airhead or bimbo quality to him that makes him somewhat of a match for Alyssa. Yet, he's arguably more of a selfish character, as well as more of a cowardly one. A large chunk of his scenes is opposite Aziza Scott (Home Before Dark) who plays Big Booty Berniece, an extreme version of Alyssa or as the film says, "real turned up." She becomes the real antagonist for the most part. The film should've done more with her, but what we get is great.
Patrick Cage (Rap Sh!t and Westworld) rounds out the cast as Maniac, the object of affection for Dreux. He's eye-candy ostensibly, but he's also meant to be a mystery. There can be assumptions about any Black man, particularly one like Maniac. Those assumptions can be that he's a thug and that he's dangerous. Similar assumptions are later made about Dreux. There's a message there that Singleton is perhaps tackling, but ultimately the film is about how women are there for each other, even when they mess up or fail each other. It's still about them being there.
Rated R for language, sexual material and brief drug use.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 37 mins.
In theaters.