QUIZ LADY – Review

So, how accurate are some of those old sayings? Well, in the case of “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family”, well…yes, 100 percent. That’s especially true with siblings, going all the way back to Cain and Abel. Sure brothers battle, but is that ditto for sisters? This weekend’s new comedy uses that as its “springboard”. These two ladies couldn’t be more different or argumentative, Fortunately, they’re both hilarious, and their characters are played by two talented actresses. You see, the elder is a party gal while the other is saddled with the title QUIZ LADY.

We first meet the aforementioned QZ as a timid eight-year-old indulging in her favorite weekday activity, watching the live TV show “Can’t Stop the Quiz” hosted by true hero Terry McTeer (Will Ferrell). And she pretty much aces all the questions despite her older sister indulging in lots of teenage drama (boys, friends, dresses, etc.). And just a few years later she storms out of the house, as lil’ sister focuses on that program. Cut to her today and her grown-up adult self, Anne Yum (Awkwafina). She’s now living in a duplex building next to her cranky older neighbor Francine (Holland Taylor), and still never misses CSQ, though she now shares it with her aging pooch, Mr. Linguine. The next morning, like clockward, she’s off to her nine-to-five cubicle job as an accountant. Her routine is disrupted one day as she gets a call at work. It seems that her Mom has “booked” from the nursing home. Anne dashes down there just in time for an unexpected (and very unwanted) reunion with big sis Jenny (Sandra Oh). After some bickering, they learn that Mom is actually in Macao with her new beau. Then things get really complicated when her “loan shark” Ken (Jon Park) dognaps Linguine to ensure the sisters clear her eighty grand debt. But Jenny’s got a plan: Anne has to win the dough on CSQ! But she’s painfully shy and wants to go unnoticed and blend into the background. Can the two stop their verbal sparring long enough to get to the TV studio and get the beloved doggie back home?

Now here’s a great new comedy team-up! Though she’d be considered the “straight” partner of the duo (much like Bud Abbott). Awkwafina elicits lots of laughs as she commits to a constant shoulder slump while trying to dash past anyone who might spot her. This makes her annoyance about unwanted fame work so well. And it’s a terrific “set-up” for her loopy, loose body language under the influence of “relaxers” given by the human wrecking ball that is Ms. Oh as the no-filter big sis Jenny. Unlike lil’ sis, she’s confident with little talent or smarts to back it up, even comparing herself to Oprah as she tosses off her hair extensions. In the supporting but certainly pivotal role as the master TV MC, Ferrell tones down his usually manic persona, giving McTeer an endearing dorky quality echoing his SNL work as the great Trebek in their “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketches and killing it with awkward attempts at humor (to a contestant: “I see you’re from Kentucky. Did you ride here on your horse?”). Plus he’s got a great comic rapport with Jason Schwartzman as the unctuous, smarmy long-time CSQ champ Ron Heacock, flashing his way too bright “pearly whites”. Taylor brings her decades-old sitcom skills to bear as the always irritated and noisy next-door neighbor. Kudos also to the fabulous Tony Hale as the owner of a motel in Philly who really tries to stick with his Ben Franklin cosplay (“Does thou have a major credit card?”).

This sprightly-paced, candy-colored farce is helmed by Jessica Yu, squeezing every ounce of yucks possible from the screenplay by Jen D’Angelo. There are terrific satiric jabs at celebrity culture, workplace politics, and even at society’s stereotypes of Asians (when a trucker yells, “Learn to drive”, Jenny calls him racist until he leans out of the driver’s side window and, well you can guess). Not only does Yu elicit wonderful work from the lead duo, but she peppers the whole film with funny folks including a loving cameo showcasing a recently “taken too soon” comedy icon. Sure it is a smart script, but the film’s not too sophisticated for some well-executed slapstick and plenty of subtle sight gags. Yes, the idea of a long-running TV game show being broadcast live feels far-fetched (though Regis did it for several weeks twenty years ago), but it just adds to the silly comedy chaos and family bonding at the happy heart of QUIZ LADY.

3 Out of 4.

QUIZ LADY is now streaming exclusively on Hulu