Direct-to-streaming comedies occupy an interesting crossroads within the landscape of new releases. The quantity that gets released is immense and somewhat depressing, regularly noted as films custom-designed to be passively half-watched while engaged in some other activity. But the flip side of that is, if one of them decides to try to live up to more than its predetermined reputation, it has an awfully low bar to clear. Bring in Quiz Lady, a Hulu comedy that seems like it should settle in right alongside the most forgettable of the bunch. But it distinguishes itself enough from other films of its ilk, by leaning into its familiar structure and tropes, to end up pretty funny and surprisingly sincere.
No, Quiz Lady never rises above or subverts what it sells you on the tin—you probably know how the heartfelt comedy, between two sisters who have to work together to accomplish their ultimate goal, will end. But it picks up the slack where any classic comedy finds its success: Chemistry between its two leads and a script that locates the sentiment in their relationship, among some mostly successful laughs.
The road to the revelations in director Jessica Yu’s film is a bit ungainly, but it gets the job done: Anne (Awkwafina) is a reticent, introverted, mid-30s single woman whose life is defined by the day-to-day tedium of being alive. Her days consist of staring at Excel spreadsheets in her depressing grayscale office, full of coworkers who don’t respect her, before she goes home to her depressing grayscale apartment, where she orders Amazon products that don’t work and endures the grumbling of her bitter senior neighbor Francine (Holland Taylor). Her only respite is the same TV game show she’s watched every night since she was a child: Can’t Stop the Quiz, a Jeopardy–ish type program whose Alex Trebek is named Terry McTeer (Will Ferrell), an idol so dear to Anne that she owns a limited-edition bobblehead of his likeness.
Anne’s obsession with Can’t Stop the Quiz has led her to become a master of general trivia, a fact noted by her gregarious, slightly obnoxious and grifting older sister Jenny (Sandra Oh), who comes to town after the nursing home loses their mother (don’t worry, she just ran away with her boyfriend to Macau). The two learn that their mom is in massive gambling debt; the mob comes to collect and kidnaps Anne’s dog until the ransom is paid, which prompts Jenny to push Anne to compete on the show to earn the funds. A familiar scenario, in which an incompatible pair must learn to get along and maybe learn a thing or two about themselves along the way.
Screenwriter Jen D’Angelo (Totally Killer, Hocus Pocus 2) isn’t reinventing the genre here, just having her own nugget of fun with it, though sometimes at the expense of full coherence. There is a version of this story that trims the fat and streamlines the events. The added drama of mob enforcers may drive an extra bit of urgency, but by the end feels extraneous to the real conflict between Anne and Jenny. And while this is ostensibly pitched as an offbeat sisterhood road trip comedy, it comes up short, crafting too many zany scenarios for the two to encounter.
As far as Quiz Lady’s “road trip,” the sisters basically just hop in the car and go to Philadelphia where the script kills time with some gags that are more inspired than others. We oscillate between things like your typical “tripping drugs” scene (a tired routine, but one Awkwafina sells with her expressive reactions) and slightly weirder recurring digressions, like Tony Hale as a Benjamin Franklin impersonator at a theme hotel who remains in a perpetual feud with Jenny. It’s slight but fun, which is largely a testament to the performers doing the most they can with the material.
Quiz Lady’s most inspired feature is its casting, allowing Awkwafina and Oh to mine laughs out of the reversal of familiar roles. Oh is having a blast as the older, less responsible sibling, perpetually out of a job and always saying things like she’s “manifesting her future.” Awkwafina would thrive in such a role but, taking a cue from her impressively subdued performance in The Farewell, the film posits her as the stable one, constantly trying to reign in the mischief of her counterpart. Rest assured, her trademark hoarse shouts do come into play eventually, but the gradual escalation of her character from ultra-reserved to suddenly emotive makes for solid laughs.
Also commendably understated is Ferrell, who rejects playing his game show host as a larger-than-life caricature and instead finds a stirring humanity in his conversations with the dispirited and apprehensive Anne. The players help to lift material that could easily come off as rote, and Yu guides them there without getting lost in the weeds— without wondering whether or not a quieter performance will still be funny enough.
The story bounces between its themes intermittently, partially about enduring sisterhood, somewhat about finding your true calling, but it’s most productively about imposter syndrome and anxiety, and what it’s like to live a life where you think everyone is quietly judging your every move. The insights are lightweight, but there’s a genial warmth to the film’s outlook that’s hard to dismiss. Quiz Lady is pure formula, but sometimes you’re reminded why that formula worked in the first place.
Directors: Jessica Yu
Writers: Jen D’Angelo
Starring: Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, Jason Schwartzman, Tony Hale, Holland Taylor, Will Ferrell
Release Date: November 3, 2023 (Hulu)
Trace Sauveur is a writer based in Austin, TX, where he primarily contributes to The Austin Chronicle. He loves David Lynch, John Carpenter, the Fast & Furious movies, and all the same bands he listened to in high school. He is @tracesauveur on Twitter where you can allow his thoughts to contaminate your feed.