At The Movies: Quiz Lady celebrates brains, bickering and the joy of banal TV

Quiz Lady (M18)

100 minutes, available on Disney+
3 stars

The story: For most of Anne’s (Awkwafina) life, the game show Can’t Stop The Quiz has offered an escape – from her parents’ fighting when she was a child and, later, from her dull job at an accounting firm. The introvert’s routines are shattered after her impulsive and financially unstable older sister, Jenny (Sandra Oh), comes to stay with her. Jenny notices that Anne is a savant at Can’t Stop The Quiz, and so schemes to make her sibling get off the couch and into the show so they can win some much-needed money.

The only time comedy gets seen in the feature film format these days is when it is hyphenated. Action-comedy and horror-comedy are the current favourites, while in the arthouse space, tragicomic films win plenty of prizes.

So this gentle, low-stakes, character-driven piece is a rarity. The laughs are also atypically uncynical. Instead of mocking game shows or their fans, the story celebrates them. In the film, game shows are shown to be reliably banal, which is why fans love them. In Anne’s world, the game show is where she feels most at home.

Can’t Stop The Quiz is based on Jeopardy (1964 to present), with host Terry McTeer (played with graceful understatement by veteran comedian Will Ferrell) clearly modelled on Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek.

The jokes arise mostly from insider pokes at the way fans worship the catchphrases uttered by their favourite hosts, with props and costumes treated as holy relics.

American director Jessica Yu, who comes to Quiz Lady having helmed episodes of horror series American Horror Story (2011 to present) and workplace comedy The Morning Show (2019 to present), has an admirably light touch with the jokes, letting the moments breathe and never hitting the punchlines too hard.

She also knows when supporting characters ought to shine. Ron, played with engaging smarminess by Jason Schwartzman, is the game show archetype: the champion whose delusions lead him to think fans love him, when they actually tune in to hate-watch.

The main event is the relationship between Jenny and Anne, two sisters poles apart in personality but united in a quest for game show glory. Their antics are grounded in realistic portrayals of disappointment and dashed expectations without slipping into therapy-speak or giving easy answers.

Hot take: In lesser hands, this homage to game show fandom and its message of sisterly togetherness might have been unbearably corny, but the story delivers the sweetness minus the cloying aftertaste.