The Daily Think

Ever present bow ties, sisterly love/rivalry, and (SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT) an 80’s Saturday morning legend makes an appearance in Hulu’s Quiz Lady starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh as the helio-centric characters. To reveal the full cast list is easy enough with Will Ferrell, Jason Schwartzman (not enough of this guy!), Tony Hale (Buster Bluth FOREVER!) and Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men mom!) But also, a kudus to rapper turned actor Dumbfoundead as the leader of the syndicate who forces the plot of the movie. Elevator Summary: Two sisters reunite, have therapeutic reveals of their past, go on quiz show, save little dog from forgetting who his real family is. Simple enough, but once you start to layer it with nuance, you find more than just another $0.99 rental at Blockbuster (miss that store!) ((and probably with inflation it’d be a $5.99 rental!))

ONE PARAGRAPH SUMMARY

The layering of psychological unpeeling with Awkwafina (Anne Yum) starts early especially when in your film you have the flashbacks start up. There is the inevitable “seeing the past through other’s eyes” part that the Quiz Lady missed but becomes painfully positive as she is enlightened by her older sister Sandra Oh (Jenny Yum.) The journey of course eventually leads to a better understanding and a friendship between siblings, that if you have siblings, you can always relate to. Eventually arriving at the movie’s conclusion with all issues resolved for all the good guys in the end, and maybe thinking of giving your own brother or sister a call to say you love them.

COLORFUL CHARACTERS ALONG THE WAY

As any hero’s journey has, there are characters you meet along the way who add to your journey, take the plot in a direction, or provide the emotional beats you sometimes need to hear (comedic, dramatic, introspective, etc.) Tony Hale as Ben Franklin is one of the more fun beats as he stays true to his in-movie character assignment. Holland Taylor as the angry neighbor who hates people in general but provides us an introspective extreme moment that the main character is presented with but has to ultimately reject due to its pessimistic destiny. And finally, Will Ferrell who plays the “Can’t Stop the Quiz” host who looks very familiar to one of his SNL’s roles and a certain legendary Jeopardy host.

UNINTENTIONAL LOVE LETTER #1

Alex Trebek hosted Jeopardy and over the years we became so familiar with his presence, his style, and his jovial and almost Mr. Rogers like morality and likability. Will Ferrell was one of the many actors and game show hosts who tried their version of Alex and even though Trebek himself said Eugene Levy of Schitt’s Creek and every Christpher Guest movie was reportedly his most accurate (Alex Trebek Interview) Will nevertheless had presented the most memorable! Of course, that might have been helped by Burt Reynolds and Sean Connery as celebrity guests on SNL’s version of Jeopardy! But in Quiz Lady, Will plays Terry McTeer and provides possibly one of the nicest and sweetest homages to a man who really made the world cry when he died in 2020. The scene where Anne and Terry meet backstage to deal with her anxiety about the final round feels like a page torn from Alex Trebek’s real life gig as Jeopardy host and could leave you in tears! And for any non-Will fans out there, you will find his toned down and sedate version refreshing as my mom commented “I like when he acts like this.”

UNINTENTIONAL LOVE LETTTER #2

Holland Taylor plays the angry lady neighbor Francine who just can’t stand the inordinate amounts her neighbor gets. She provides some fun irascible elderly moments and even presents Anne with a pessimistic view of life that our main character could take. After inviting Anne in to comfort her, Anne spots a framed picture of Paul Reubens/Pee Wee Herman. Francine has mistaken him for Scottish actor Alan Cumming! The resemblance is there if you look hard enough! But massive spoiler, as the film unfolds and Francine angrily walks away from the Can’t Stop the Quiz studio, she comes across the legend himself in what would be his final role before his death in 2023. The bow tie wearing men of note in the past 40 years of Hollywood are represented and given such a tearful respect it’s quite fitting!

WE NEED MORE SCHWARTZ-MAN!
Jason Schwartzman as Ron Heacock from Ohio just proves we need more of this actor in movies and or television. He is absolutely detestable as that hyper intelligent kid who throws that skill around in high school and would rat you out to the teacher in a moment’s notice with a big white toothy grin on his face. I just hope the intention of the Quiz Lady was not to pain Ron Heacock as Ken Jennings.

ASIAN PORTRAYAL
Besides passing the Bechdel test for Asian females (see requirements here) there is also the Asian representation, where some of the stereotypes are portrayed throughout the film but made fun of and poked at in a good way. And unfortunately, we have come to a point where anytime race is portrayed in TV & Film we have to dig deeper and have a discussion about it. I will leave that to other writers to do, because sometimes when you pick at something that could wound you don’t improve it or heal it. Jessica Yu set out to make a comedic film with her friends and peers and she did so without having to make any social commentary.

MUST WATCH

Obviously, we recommend a watch of the film, and thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s acting and comedic performances in the Quiz Lady. Films set out to carry a message by making you laugh, or think or even cry, and oddly enough there can be nuanced emotional and heartfelt messaging in comedy films. This movie offers you several, but that is always dependent on your own experiences and if you woke up on Saturday mornings and watched Pee Wee’s Playhouse, or a weekday episode of Jeopardy!