In Quiz Lady, Anne (Awkwafina) is an incredibly intelligent woman with no life. Her sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) suddenly reappears, turning Anne’s day-to-day upside down. It all leads to the kidnapping of Anne’s dog and an unforgettable experience on her favourite quiz show.
Quiz Lady
Jessica Yu (director), Jen D’Angelo (writer), Adrian Peng Correia (cinematography), Nat Sanders (editor), Susan Vaill (editor)
Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, Holland Taylor, Tony Hale, Jon “Dumbfoundead” Park, Will Ferrell (cast)
September 9, 2023 (TIFF)
Quiz Lady came highly recommended—my dad loved it, and he’s critical of most films. Granted, this film is about a quizzer, and both my folks are ardent quizzers, so there may be some bias there. But I was delighted to end my TIFF 2023 with Quiz Lady, a thoroughly enjoyable, sweet film that gave me all the warm and fuzzies.
When their mother makes her latest daring escape from her retirement home, Anne and Jenny reunite after nearly twenty years. Their lives are awful, but in wildly different ways. Anne has a dead-end job and no friends. She only comes alive is when her favourite quiz show airs in the evening. Jenny doesn’t even have a job, lives out of her car, and is between life purposes.
The moment Jenny sees Anne’s quizzing skills, she hits upon an idea that will help her find a vocation, give Anne a life, and even solve their mother’s gambling debts. But all that depends on whether Anne is ready to accept her quizzing gifts.
One of the first things I loved about Quiz Lady was how it’s a sign of how things have slowly changed in Hollywood. A few years ago, this story probably wouldn’t feature Awkwafina and Oh as leads. Because of the diversity on camera and behind the scenes, this film entertains while also creating an authentic reflection of different kinds of Asian-American life. Here, Anne and Jenny come from a dysfunctional home and have had to become resilient because of it. When Jenny raced off to live her acting dreams, Anne was stuck being the responsible one, caring for their gambling mother and Jenny’s abandoned puppy, Mr Linguine.
I like that despite the dark set-up, the humour doesn’t punch down, like many comedies tend to do. Anne’s neighbour, Francine (Holland Taylor), could easily have been racist, or Anne and Jenny could have shared plenty of ageist jokes. Neither happens. Francine is annoying as any neighbour could be about having Anne’s packages dumped at her doorstep, but she’s also one of those people who looks out for her young neighbour.
The back-and-forth between Anne and Jenny feels based on decades of lived history as a family. There’s a scene with an innkeeper that had no right to be as funny and rewarding as it was, and yet, I’m still thinking about it. This film’s humour is deceptively simple. In the moment, yes, it’s funny. But now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’m even more impressed. Of course, the one-liners made me guffaw but the payoff comes later than the audience expects. Every joke has a follow-up later in the film, so you do need to pay attention! So many visual comedic notes lie in the background, which add to the hilarity.
But at the heart of it, Quiz Lady is about two sisters finding their way back to each other. Anne and Jenny realize that despite their differences, they complement each other. Together, these sisters can be an unstoppable force—even if Jenny leaves her dyed hair all over the place and Anne organizes her home like she’s a robot. This is never more beautifully exemplified than a hilarious session of charades in the final act that had the audience squealing with laughter.
The performances are exquisite. Awkwafina brings the level of seriousness we saw in The Farewell and pairs it well with comedic timing, without that awful blaccent. Sandra Oh is effortlessly charming in a role that I never imagined her in—she’s the ditzy disaster sister after years of playing the competent know-it-all. She’s perfect. 10/10. No notes.
Despite my reservations about Jason Schwartzman and Will Ferrell (I’m aware people like their comedy, but I… struggle), they did a good job with their characters. Ferrell may not be Alex Trebek, but he channels Trebek’s kindness, and his humour is palatable — probably because he’s onscreen for a short time. Schwartzman‘s Ron is Anne’s nemesis, and he’s got the right amount of smarminess for the role. Again, he wasn’t onscreen long enough to irritate me.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Quiz Lady. It was so funny, so charming, and played right into my niche interests—sisters who love one another. Throw in impeccable performances, and you’ve got yourself a feel-good film that you can watch several times over.
