Nothing is simultaneously as comforting and frustrating as family, which is something that many of us should hopefully be blessed to have experienced, even if it comes from a chosen family. There is something so poignant about a story that focuses on two contrastive individuals trying to find common ground based solely on being born into the same arbitrary circumstances, and we often find that these are the most interesting concepts. Anyone who has siblings will likely understand what it is like to grow up with someone who is essentially your closest friend until a particular point, before we all inevitably undergo our journey, which may or may not include them, depending on our relationship. This is something that Jessica Yu is intent on exploring in Quiz Lady, a hilarious and heartfelt comedy in which she tells the story of two sisters who are given the task of raising a ridiculous sum of money in a very limited amount of time to cover their mother’s gambling debt after she flees the country, or else face the consequences that are so severe, they have no choice but to make a plan. The premise is as straightforward as it can be, and Yu takes a compelling approach to exploring a lot of the underlying subjects that define the film, while it may not be particularly complex at a glance (which is intentionally by design), it is a fresh and funny comedy with a lot of heart and soul, and just enough ambition to keep us engaged, which is more than we could have anticipated from such a straightforward premise, which the director reconfigures to be a very touching story about family and sibling rivalry, particularly the underlying love that exists between these characters as they work together to solve a problem, and come to realize that in the process, they have managed to get to know one another more than ever had before, which sets the foundation for a truly charming, insightful comedy.

Yu has been working for quite a while and has proven to be quite an interesting voice in contemporary cinema, although it can be said that she hasn’t received much praise for a lot of her work, remaining quite an unheralded figure. However, she has been steadily directing for a quarter of a century, which makes her well-equipped to handle the various facets of this story, repurposing a simple story into something much more engaging. Quiz Lady shares a few qualities with Yu’s previous work, mainly that it is a film that centres squarely on the Asian-American experience, as well as being a story about a protagonist overcoming various obstacles on her way to success. It is one of the rare narrative films since she primarily works in the realm of documentary, but this only allows her to approach a relatively simple concept with the same sense of precision found in her non-fiction works. Quiz Lady makes its ideas quite clear from the start, proving to be a film about sisterhood, and the challenges that come about when two opposed siblings find themselves forced to work together to overcome a problem that they can only resolve through teamwork, something that they both resent based on the broad differences that exist between them.  These aspects don’t quite challenge our expectations and make it seem like this film is more than it was promised at the outset, but they do prove to be the basis on which a lot of the more compelling ideas can be constructed, and while there is nothing necessarily groundbreaking about what is being done in Quiz Lady, it is still a forthright and meaningful examination of the bond between two sisters as they navigate various challenges in their personal lives, which prove to be quite intimidating once they are faced with severe consequences should they not accomplish the mission within the time they are given, which leads to a thrilling and captivating comedy about the unbreakable bond between siblings that allow them to achieve just about anything, granted that they can work together to reach a common solution.

Quiz Lady may be conventional, but there are several fascinating choices it makes, particularly in terms of the casting. Managing to get Awkwafina and Sandra Oh to play the leads is already a major achievement, since they’re both at the peak of their talents and have been doing exceptional work for years. However, it seems like Yu realized the potential she had with these two actors since she decided to go against expectations and have them both play against type. Awkwafina, who is more known for playing eccentric, off-the-wall rascals, takes on the more straight-laced, introverted part of Anne (the titular Quiz Lady, a name she gets from her fondness for a television quiz show), while the usually more sophisticated and composed Oh is Jenny, the wild child who seemingly doesn’t have any direction in life and carries herself with a sense of unearned entitlement based on her belief in the adage of “good time, not a long time”, which she seems to use as her mantra. Both actors are wonderful – it’s not particularly complex work, and a lot of the impact comes in how the story is written since there is the possibility that nearly anyone could have taken on these roles and done relatively well. However, it’s not the broader aspects that keep us engaged, but rather the smaller details, particularly in how the two leads work across from one another. They have very strong chemistry and bring such complexity to these roles, which may not necessarily elevate it beyond being a relatively simple comedy, but it does give their performances a sense of authenticity, which allows us to genuinely believe that these characters are sisters, the bond between them being integral to the journey on which they embark throughout the film. It’s a very simple premise, but it’s one that both Awkwafina and Oh navigate splendidly, proving how they are both amongst the most interesting actors working today.

A film like Quiz Lady is always going to be designed to pander to a much broader audience, and those expecting a hard-hitting, complex character study should probably keep their expectations in check because at no point during this film’s production was anyone intent on redefining the genre or doing something we haven’t seen multiple times before. Instead, we receive a touching and funny film that is quite conventional, but not in a way that suggests poor storytelling or lacklustre skills on the part of the writer or director, but rather an indication that they are attempting to have a reach across a much wider portion of the audience. There isn’t much about this film that can be considered traditionally exciting, but it occupies that peculiar position of never needing to be all that ambitious since it has a winning concept and a pair of actors willing to commit wholeheartedly to these characters. It also serves the function of being another entry into a continuous stream of films focused on placing marginalized and under-represented populations on screen in a way that doesn’t rely on stereotypes or preconceived notions and instead focuses solely on the story and what it represents. These are all essential elements that help us understand and respect what this film is aiming to achieve, and it often comes across as being quite intriguing in how it develops its ideas without needing to present itself as overly ambitious or all that daring in the traditional sense. How it handles emotions is quite compelling, since it may be quite predictable, yet it never feels hackneyed or one-dimensional, forming itself from a genuine sense of heartfulness that Yu brings to the production. It manages to be bitingly funny without even a moment of being mean-spirited or cliched, and it carries itself with a dignity that seems fundamental to the overall identity of this story, which is beautifully captured in every moment of this delightful comedy.

Quiz Lady is not a particularly complex film, and in many ways, it is extremely predictable, and perhaps even overly simplistic to the point where it becomes fairly conventional. However, as we’ve noted, there is always value in a film that doesn’t strive to reinvent the genre, but rather represents the best it has to offer, which is exactly what Yu is doing throughout this film, which proves to be most compelling when it is at its most straightforward, following a very common pattern in a way that is still very endearing, even if we can predict where it is going to from the start. It certainly is a competently-made film, and Yu proves that she is not a novice in any way, with her efforts to create an engaging and compelling comedy about sisterhood being remarkable, leading to quite an exciting work that may seem conventional, but is deeply committed to providing us with something much more enthralling than we’d expect at a glance. A brisk 100-minute journey through this story of sisterhood that is exceptionally well-acted by a pair of wonderful actors, written with a lot of wit and honesty and helmed by Yu, who proves that she brings the same level of dedication to a relatively simple comedy as she does her more complex documentaries, Quiz Lady proves to be a delightful diversion, a straightforward comedy with a lot of heart and soul, and a sense of genuine curiosity for the subject matter. It is not particularly serious, and it is built to be an entertaining experience, which is exactly what we receive from this delightful and irreverent comedy that proves to be a lot more engaging than we may have initially expected.