Keke Palmer’s New Comedy Breaks An 11-Year-Old Rotten Tomatoes Record Even Two Recent Acclaimed Hits Couldn’t

Keke Palmer’s new comedy One of Them Days has broken a Rotten Tomatoes record. The movie, which was produced by Insecure‘s Issa Rae, was directed by Lawrence Lamont (who previously collaborated with Rae on Max’s Rap Sh!t) from the debut screenplay by Syreeta Singleton (who was the showrunner of Rap Sh!t). It co-stars Palmer and singer-songwriter SZA as best friends Dreux and Alyssa alongside an ensemble cast that includes Vanessa Bell Calloway, Maude Apatow, Katt Williams, Dewayne Perkins, Lil Rel Howery, and Janelle James.

The new Keke Palmer movie is the latest in a string of prominent projects for the actor, who kicked off her career in the mid 2000s and first rose to prominence when she starred opposite Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett in 2006’s Akeelah and the Bee. She parlayed this success as a child actor into roles in projects such as Disney’s Jump In! and Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP. As an adult, she has starred in a variety of movies and shows, including Scream: The TV Series, Lightyear, Scream Queens, and Netflix’s Human Resources.

One Of Them Days Is Officially Keke Palmer’s Highest Rated Movie On Rotten Tomatoes

It Beats A Record That Has Been Held For 11 Years

At the time of writing, Rotten Tomatoes has aggregated 52 different One of Them Days reviews, which has given the movie a near-perfect Tomatometer score of 97%. In fact, among the 19 Top Critics that have submitted reviews, the movie does have a full 100% score. This 97% score, which comes along with a nearly matching 95% Popcornmeter score from audience members, means that the 2025 comedy movie is officially Keke Palmer’s highest-rated movie of all time on the Tomatometer.

Her previous highest-scoring movies were tied at 92%, a full five percentage points lower than the current Rotten Tomatoes score of One of Them Days. Those titles were the 2014 Netflix Drama Imperial Dreams, in which she starred opposite John Boyega and Rotimi Akinosho, and the 2016 musical telecast Grease: Live!, in which she played Pink Ladies member Martina “Marty” Maraschino opposite Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko and Julianne Hough as Sandy Young.

Keke Palmer’s New Rotten Tomatoes Record Is More Impressive After Nope & Hustlers

Both Movies Were Well-Regarded During Their Releases

The critical success of the One of Them Days release is even more impressive considering the fact that Keke Palmer has starred in two recent movies that were critical darlings. Those would be Jordan Peele’s 2022 sci-fi horror feature Nope, for which Palmer won a New York Film Critics Circle Award, and Lorene Scafaria’s 2019 crime dramedy Hustlers, which earned star Jennifer Lopez a Golden Globe nomination. However, in spite of their glowing reception, they only earned 83% and 88% Rotten Tomatoes scores respectively.

How One Of Them Days Compares To Keke Palmer’s Highest-Rated Movies

It Stands Out In Multiple Ways

On Rotten Tomatoes, Keke Palmer only has 10 movies that have been deemed Fresh out of 20 movies that have received official scores, meaning that exactly 50% of her output has been generally well-regarded by critics. Of these titles, One of Them Days is the only one that is primarily a comedy, though she played comic roles in titles such as Nope and the Pixar adventure movie Lightyear. It is also so far her lowest-grossing movie with a Fresh score, as every wide release other than Akeelah and the Bee (which earned $19 million) has grossed more than $100 million.

However, One of Them Days‘ ongoing opening weekend is projected to gross roughly $15 million, which means that the movie has already made back its budget and will likely climb much higher than the gross of Akeelah, though hitting the $100 million milestone still seems outside of its capabilities. Its slim budget also sees it compare favorably to the performances of those previous titles, as they had much higher budgets.

In fact, the Lightyear box office was hampered by its $200 million price tag. Even though the movie is the highest-grossing of the bunch, it was a theatrical failure because it only earned $226.4 million in spite of its budget likely placing its break-even point somewhere around $500 million. Below, see a breakdown of the critical and commercial reception of Keke Palmer’s highest-rated movies:

The relative performance of her Top 10 movies does not necessarily mean that another comedy would achieve the critical and commercial success of One of Them Days. However, she does have a few comedies in development that could prove once and for all if the genre is her lucky charm.

What Is Next For Keke Palmer After One Of Them Days

She Has Many Irons In The Fire

Keke Palmer has quite a few projects coming after One of Them Days, which occupy a wide variety of genres and mediums. The one that is set to debut soonest is the body swap comedy Good Fortune, the directorial debut of Parks and Recreation and Master of None star Aziz Ansari, which is set to be released on October 27. She was previously set to appear in Ansari’s movie Being Mortal, but production was paused in 2022 amid sexual assault allegations against co-star Bill Murray, though it may eventually come to the screen in a different form after Good Fortune.

Throughout 2024, a number of other upcoming Keke Palmer projects were announced, including a Peacock series remake of the Joe Dante dark comedy The ‘Burbs, the Boots Riley crime movie I Love Boosters (opposite Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, and LaKeith Stanfield), and the CIA action thriller Gods Unknown. It is unknown if these projects will interfere with other titles announced in 2023, including David O. Russell’s drama Super Toys and the Kevin Hart rom-com The Backup.

Additionally, Palmer will be appearing opposite Eddie Murphy in the heist comedy The Pickup in addition to being part of Whoopi Goldberg’s ideal cast for the sequel Sister Act 3, which is in development though it has been slow to come to fruition. In addition to Palmer, Goldberg says she wants the movie to feature Nicki Minaj and Lizzo, though contracts have seemingly not been signed for the project. Any number of these titles could compete with One of Them Days, though considering how long it took the star to get just one 97% score, they may fall short.

One of Them Days, directed by Lawrence Lamont, follows best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa as they scramble to prevent eviction after discovering Alyssa’s boyfriend has squandered their rent money. This comedic adventure highlights their desperate and humorous attempts to save their home and friendship.

Release Date

January 17, 2025

Cast

Keke Palmer
, Sza
, Maude Apatow
, Lil Rel Howery
, Janelle James
, Katt Williams
, Vanessa Bell Calloway
, Keyla Monterroso Mejia
, Joshua Neal
, Aziza Scott
, Patrick Cage
, Dewayne Perkins
, Amin Joseph
, Gabrielle Dennis
, Dominique Perry

Director

Lawrence Lamont

Writers

Syreeta Singleton

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