Movie Review: Quiz Lady
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
It is always a pleasure seeing actors challenging their limits by playing characters that are unusual from what made their career. Hulu presents - Quiz Lady, a comedy about two estranged sisters on a road trip together to appear on a TV game show. Awkwafina - a comedian and rapper, plays Anne as the grounded and dull corporate employee. Alongside Sandra Oh - two times Golden Globe winner, plays Jenny as the outgoing and irresponsible older sister. Two very unique roles for two well-known actresses that echo a Freaky Friday comedy in every twist and turn that will surely keep guessing on what will happen next.
© 2023 San Diego Asian Film Festival
This new comedic dual plays a predictable storyline, and yet the relationship grows to become hilariously charming. What shines the most is seeing how both characters develop throughout the film with both actresses mixing their dramatic and comedic skill sets. With the stacked female leads the film also includes various talented cast members: Will Ferrell, who plays a game show host that is very similar to his Saturday Night Live Jeopardy parody as Alex Trebek, but to a surprise in a little more serious tone that complements Awkwafina’s tightly wound character. The film also includes Jason Schwartzman - as the antagonist of the film, Holland Taylor, Tony Hale and many more cast members that bring so much color to the film. A fun creative perspective to keep an eye out during the film is the background color scheme; each scene that represents the dull life of Anne is often in a darker shade of dull brown, gray or an overall muted color. And each scene with Jenny, you would notice her as the brightest color in the room. And throughout the film you will notice the color palette change reflecting how both characters develop, especially during the epilogue. Small subtle details like this are how the director, Jessica Yu, brightens the audience with this heartfelt film.
I also had the honor to attend the San Diego Asian Film Festival’s opening night with a special presentation and early screening of Quiz Lady followed by a Q&A with Director Jessica Yu. The audience asked many great questions and the director was able to share so much behind the scene details on how this film was made. During filming and pre-production, there were oftentimes improvisation which gave Awkwafina and Sandra Oh the opportunity to bond and be able to add natural humor throughout the story telling. This also gave the female led production a creative control over the film, even though Will Ferrell’s Gloria Sanchez Productions company helped co-produce this film, he was very hands off. Will Ferrell did specially ask to play his character in a non-typical loud and outgoing method that has embodies most of his career. Lastly, there were several audience comparisons of Jessica’s previous work, Ping Pong Player, with Quiz Lady, where she responded that both films have similar tones with the goal in mind to be a comfort film. Although the original script was not written for an Asian American lead, Jessica still was able to elaborate and incorporate similar concepts of identity, leaving us wanting more about characters that are caught between two worlds as Asian American. 4/5 Stars!
