Anne Yum (Awkwafina) leads a tightly wound, boring life. She’s pretty solitary, except for her aging pug, Mr. Linguini, with whom every night she faithfully watches her favorite game show, Can’t Stop the Quiz. When Anne’s mom flees the country to escape gambling debts, her flighty, flaky sister, Jenny (Sandra Oh), shows up on her doorstep. The two have to come up with a plan to pay off their mom’s debt, but not before Mr. Linguini gets kidnapped.
Oh and Awkwafina play the sisters with great snark—while the plot may be predictable as Jenny hatches a plan for Anne to win at her favorite show, the two comedic actors lean well into the silly. Boasting a cast including Will Ferrell, Jason Schwartzman, and Holland Taylor, Quiz Lady is a whole lot of fun.
This fast-paced comedy is a whirlwind as the Yum sisters work their way from disaster to disaster and figure out their next moves in between. Mix in a little sisterly bonding and a cast of zany characters, and you’ve got an hour and a half of fun ahead of you. Both leads have great comedy chops and play off of each other well, and the list of background characters only manages to make the film more enjoyable. (99 min.)
—Anna Starkey
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 10, 2023.