‘Quiz Lady’: Toronto Review

Dir: Jessica Yu. US. 2023. 99mins

Awkwafina plays a meek young woman whose only happiness comes from watching her favourite game show in director Jessica Yu’s fitfully amusing new comedy, Quiz Lady. The film sends her and her overbearing older sister (Sandra Oh) on an odd quest to become a contestant on the programme in order to pay off their mother’s gambling debts, hashing out their differences along the way. Yet Awkwafina and Oh are too often saddled with sitcom-y scenarios that produce neither laughs nor pathos in this Toronto world premiere.

Fitfully amusing

Quiz Lady launches on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK on November 3, a fitting destination for an undemanding film that doesn’t necessarily require the big screen, despite some appealing crowd-pleasing moments. The two stars will help raise interest, as will producer Will Ferrell in a small role. 

Lonely Pennsylvania office drone Anne (Awkwafina) religiously watches Can’t Stop The Quiz every night with her dog Mr. Linguini, and she’s remarkably good at getting every question right. One day, she receives terrible news that her mother Crystal has fled her retirement home for Macao in order to escape her gambling debts. She owes gangster Ken (Jon “Dumbfoundead” Park) thousands of dollars, and when he kidnaps Mr Linguini as collateral, Anne decides to work with her estranged, directionless sister Jenny (Oh) to find the money to pay off their mother’s debt. Jenny’s solution is simple: the socially anxious Anne needs to travel to Philadelphia to audition for Can’t Stop The Quiz.

Yu, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker (the 1996 short Breathing Lessons), helms her first narrative feature since 2007’s Ping Pong Playa, basing much of the humour on the interplay between sad-sack Anne and boisterous Jenny, who dreamed of being famous but has failed in every attempt to reach that goal. Awkwafina gives her character a muted resignation that suggests that Anne has never been the same since her parents separated when she and Jenny were young, their father dying under tragic circumstances. Whereas Jenny dealt with that family dysfunction by chasing the spotlight, Anne has shrunk from the world, only really becoming animated when she watches Can’t Stop The Quiz, treating its longtime host Terry McTeer (Ferrell) like he’s a close friend. 

There are times when the siblings’ clashes can be funny, but screenwriter Jen D’Angelo doesn’t dig deep enough into the lingering anger between the two characters to produce sufficient comedic sparks. It also doesn’t help that Oh plays the exasperating Jenny so broadly, reducing her to a caricature rather than fleshing out this flailing older sister who has as little in her life as Anne. Quiz Lady tends to be more successful subverting Asian stereotypes than it does in developing a fragile bond between these very different sisters.

Whether it’s the drive to the audition or a later trip to Los Angeles to appear on the programme, Quiz Lady doesn’t generate many good jokes from Anne and Jenny’s misadventures. (One exception is Tony Hale playing a man who runs a Ben Franklin-themed hotel and greets guests in character — a role he takes ridiculously seriously.)  What’s especially disappointing is that Anne’s obsession with Can’t Stop The Quiz could be fertile ground for a commentary about the ways in which people cling to television programmes to run away from reality. But the idea is never satisfyingly explored, nor is Anne’s uncanny ability to know so many of the questions. Instead, these character traits are mostly an excuse to set in motion a road-trip narrative.

That said, Quiz Lady does find some nice moments near the end once Anne finally gets to be on the show. Jason Schwartzman is agreeably annoying as Ron, Can’t Stop The Quiz’s smarmy current champion, while Ferrell tones down his high-energy persona to portray the genial host, who has a disarmingly sweet exchange with the nervous Anne. The film finds an unexpected way to reach its happy ending, but ultimately Quiz Lady is a fun premise seeking a sharper execution — unlike the brilliant Anne, Yu and her cast don’t have all the answers.