Director: Jessica Yu
Writers: Jen D’Angelo
Stars: Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Will Ferrell
Synopsis: A game-show-obsessed woman and her estranged sister work together to help cover their mother’s gambling debts.
Quiz Lady has a premise that will satisfy that itch for trivia junkies everywhere. Especially the ones who don’t have the guts to try out such programs, like Jeopardy, for example, which is parodied in the new Hulu comedy. The problem is that it is only used as a backdrop by those buffs who take the minutiae of the genre seriously. While a far more exciting angle would have been an inside look at the struggle to retain knowledge and compete in such a show, you cannot argue the winning formula of Jessica Yu’s socially challenged comedy. One full of heart and a bond that can never be broken.
Written by a Hulu-hired hand, Jen D’Angelo (Solar Opposites), the story follows Anne Yum (Awkwafina), a socially awkward woman who always has her nose in a book. When she’s not gobbling up bits and pieces of knowledge at a record pace, she has a remote in her right hand and is petting Linguini, her gassy pug, in the other while watching Can’t Stop the Quiz, a game show she has been watching every day since the tender age of 8. As the story progresses, we learn Anne often watched the program because her sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) would put on the program and turn up the volume to distract Anne from her parent’s continuous arguments.
Now grown up, Anne is an accountant who crunches numbers and has no friends. Her sister Jenny is a people person who only has professional prospects except for suing the pants off chain restaurants that bring her food that’s too hot to handle. Having grown apart over the years, they are brought back together when their mom runs off to Macao because she is indebted to Ken (Jon Park), a local Chinese gangster, for more than 80,000 dollars. Of course, you see where the story is headed. To get their mother out of debt, Jenny encourages Anne to try out for a game show hosted by her hero, Terry McTeer (Will Ferrell). Only after a video Jenny shot of Anne goes viral does she become an internet sensation.
This is Jessica Yu’s first feature film in nearly 15 years after a career in documentary films and directing dozens of television episodes for various genres from some of the most respected franchises on networks and streaming. Quiz Lady is a departure for the well-traveled filmmaker. Her films are often funny and heartfelt, but even though they fluctuate from the wacky absurd to a commentary on the bond of sisterhood, they can sometimes fall on the side of manipulative.
However, that’s not to say those scenes are not compelling because most are—for example, a hilarious set of toxic males primping and even massaging a half dozen adorable pooches. There is also a scene-stealing Tony Hale, who connects with Awkwafina’s Anne, who runs an immersive Benjamin Franklin hotel deep in historical Philadelphia.
Others, like a flashback explaining Anne’s behavior as a child because of trauma, are out of place and forced to create closure for the sisters later. This is an example of Quiz Lady pushing aside an attempt at darker humor with heavy themes but trading them off for absurd comedy that sticks out like a sore thumb.
Yet, what makes Quiz Lady work is the bold choice of reversing the roles of the leads. Awkwafina will typically play the quirky character with irritable tendencies. Instead, Oh is allowed to revel in the role of Jenny. Her reactions and line delivery are priceless. In particular, when Oh’s Jenny has to think quickly on her feet, like using white guilt or cultural appropriation to talk herself out of predicaments. (The scene where Jenny attempts to even out Anne’s drugged-out state to an internist is particularly amusing.)
Of course, Awkwafina’s infectious comedic style cannot be contained in numerous spots, but playing a straight woman for most of the film shows her progression as a comedic performer. She’s absolutely winning here. Along with amiable Will Ferrell, who gives the film a shockingly calm presence that’s needed, is amusing. Additionally, the slimy Jason Schwartzman generates a few laughs to produce something positive out of a small role.
Overall, Quiz Lady is an infectious comedy with plenty of heart and plenty of wacky humor that’s charming enough to drag the picture across the finish line for a mild recommendation. However, the film missed a real opportunity to flesh out the childhood trauma angle with darker comedy that could have given the film greater depth.
