A gameshow-obsessed woman and her estranged sister work together to help cover their mother’s gambling debts.
Pam says
Looking for a light-hearted comedy with a message of positivity? Look no further than Hulu’s “Quiz Lady.” This fluffy, feel-good film will have you laughing and cheering for the main character, Anne (Awkwafina) to win the jackpot in life and on a game show.
We meet Anne as a young professional who is overlooked by her colleagues, hiding in plain sight in her cubicle. Her solitary life continues at home, comforted by two things…her dog Mr. Linguini and a game show “Can’t Stop the Quiz,” hosted by Terry McTeer (Will Ferrell). That routine life is disrupted by a call from her mother’s nursing home to report that she’s gone missing and for good reason. She owes a mobster $80,000.
As her sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) joins her — she’s got a story of oddity to tell as well — the polar opposite pair inadvertently find a way to pay back the thugs AND rescue her kidnapped pug. Discovered by social media, thanks to Jenny, Anne’s bizarrely accurate brain gets her a chance to win top dollar on the Jeopardy-like game show, but she must compete against the reigning champion Ron Heacock (Jason Schwartzman). It’s a recipe for disaster or quite possibly a way to change the course of all of their lives.
This is just plain fun. There are ancillary characters we meet along the way that add even more levity to the story, but more importantly they also add a touch of charm. Holland Taylor plays Francine, Anne’s cranky, cold-hearted next door neighbor who complains about everything, but she’s got her own background story that explains how she got to this point in life. Tony Hale plays a unique Ben Franklin with confidence issues and Schwartzman’s Ron couldn’t be any more smarmy and dislikable, but in a very fun way. And we also get the necessary background information about Anne and Jenny’s upbringing thanks to flashbacks and the pair discussing their lives candidly and from their own perspective.
Writer Jen D’Angelo and Director Jessica Yu keep the pacing of the film at a high level to create a thoroughly entertaining movie. Awkwafina and Oh are an integral part of that high speed, keeping us laughing and loving their sisterly antics as they get to know one another as adults. Be sure to stick around for the credits as we get an update on the lives of all these characters!
Check out “Quiz Lady,” now streaming on Hulu.
3 Stars
Chuck says:
I wish I could report that Jessica Yu’s “The Quiz Lady” was a rollicking good time, a laugh-a-minute comedy classic that not only tickles the funny bone but prompts discussion of current social issues. Alas, that is not the case despite what is an intriguing premise and a solid cast. Wasted opportunities abound in Jen D’Angelo’s script, as if they writer just had the courage to sneak up on good ideas only to back away timidly from them, unsure as to how to develop them.
Then again, maybe she just didn’t have the confidence to do so, much like her main character Anne Yum (Awkwafina), a sheltered thirty-something who avoids social interaction like the plague. Working as a drone in an accounting firm, every night she looks forward to watching “The Quiz Show,” a long-running game show hosted by Terry McTeer (Will Farrell). Growing up in a dysfunctional family, this program was her refuge, a place she could escape to for a half hour a day. Never having missed an episode, Anne now has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything.
Her obnoxious sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) thinks she’d be a perfect contestant on the show, but Anne’s low sense of self-esteem prevents her from accepting the challenge. However, when the siblings find out their mother, a compulsive gambler, owes a local hood $80,000 she doesn’t have much choice but to throw her hat in the ring.
D’Angelo’s work is an example of narrative inertia. There are far too many scenes that simply don’t move the story along. The sisters’ arguments over whether Anne can succeed on the show are too numerous and tiresome, a sequence in which Anne is hallucinating is unnecessary, and a cross-country trip to Philadelphia is inexplicable. That neither of the sisters is likable doesn’t help. That none of this is funny is the killing blow.
The game show setting is ripe with possibilities that aren’t explored. Ferrell’s naïve, inoffensive-to-the -extreme game show host doesn’t have enough screentime, whereas an intriguing surrogate father-daughter relationship between he and Anne is wasted. Jason Schwartzman appears as the noxious champion of the game show and the interactions between him, and Anne is minimal. A series of shows featuring them battling it out, while getting to know each other off stage might have yielded comic gold.
As it is, chances are meant to be taken with a film like “The Quiz Lady.” Yu and company are content to hit the most obvious notes, hoping that in doing so loudly will create a sense of energy the story sorely lacks. What might have been a pleasant timewaster ends up being a total waste of time.
2 Stars
