'One Of These Days' Review: A MrBeast Video Becomes A Movie
The film turns a YouTube challenge into a character-driven drama.
Joe Cole in One of These Days. © Courtesy of Flare Film.
In 2018, YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson put out a video titled “Last To Remove Hand, Gets Lamborghini Challenge.” This was one in a series of challenge videos where Donaldson took a group of people and gave them some sort of task, and the last one to give up would win. Most frequently, these would revolve around not leaving a circle (or designated area) or not removing your hand from something, i.e., a car or even a house. For Donaldson, this series of videos — that culminated in him giving away one million dollars — is what truly skyrocketed him to fame, with him now holding the title of the most-subscribed-to individual on the platform. This is what brings us to One of These Days, a character-driven drama from California City director Bastian Günther. Set in a small town in Texas, One of These Days follows a group of people who participate in an annual event where they place their hands on a pickup truck, and the last person to remain attached to the truck keeps it.
One of These Days. © Courtesy of Flare Film.
One would expect One of These Days to be a lighthearted film that focuses on the entertaining and challenging aspects of its topic, as YouTube videos do. The film goes in the complete opposite direction, focusing on the characters and the effects that this game has on them. Enter Kyle (Joe Cole), an overworked and underpaid young father who’s running out of ways to support his family. He, like many of the other characters in the film, enters the contest not for fun or entertainment but because having a brand-new pickup truck would be life-changing — or even life-saving. One of These Days does a great job of highlighting that while the film’s primary conflict is carried out for the purpose of entertaining its viewers and helping a business promote its products, that’s not the situation for its contestants, many of which rely on this opportunity to supply their basic needs. While this may feel like a simple thing to ask from the film, the way it’s accomplished is done in a manner delicately enough to put us in the mindsets of the characters while maintaining some levity, at least in the beginning.
One of These Days. © Courtesy of Flare Film.
Once the film’s challenge is underway, everything goes downhill. The pacing becomes incredibly dragged out, making me wonder if Günther’s intention was to make us feel as tortured as the characters on screen were. We feel every moment with them, whether it’s the heat, the rainy nights, or the pesky reminders to follow the game’s rules and remain alert, not leaning, squatting, or sleeping. We go through this for so long that it simply discourages us from wanting to continue. Regardless of its subject, a movie shouldn’t feel torturous. To give the film credit, it does create interesting beats toward the end of the second act in regard to the challenge itself and how far people will go to win. It’s just unfortunate that this becomes slightly more interesting than the true task at hand. And then, when all is beginning to feel said and done, the film takes a major swing in the third act, one that doesn’t really add to the story, just giving us information about our protagonist that doesn’t feel relevant anymore.
While I can commend the film for creating the strong dramatic moments that it has, there are too few of them in a runtime this long for it to be truly strong, and, ultimately, feels like the rest is just filler. There are moments to appreciate in the third act, particularly when we examine the direct physical and mental effects the challenge has on its contestants and what happens when stress makes you boil over. However, it’s clear that a story like this plays better in a 10-minute (lighthearted) video than in a 2-hour feature.
