Quiz Lady (2023)

You can't go wrong with Awkwafina and Sandra Oh. In this comedy they play sisters of very different personalities who, suddenly needing money, capitalize on one sister's skill at a Jeopardy! type game show. Jack and I loved it. Awkwafina is proving to be capable of meaty roles as the OCD Anne, while Oh demonstrates excellent comedy chops as the vapid Jenny. 

Will Ferrell plays an Alex Trebek type, Holland Taylor a cranky neighbor, Jason Schwartzman a smarmy champion, and Paul Reubens has a cute cameo (photography wrapped eight days before he died in July 2023).

Jessica Yu directs from a script by Jen D'Angelo, and the music by Nick Urata is available for streaming on Apple Music. Here's a list of songs. Locations in British Columbia stand in for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Awkwafina was last blogged for Swan Song, Oh for Raya and the Last Dragon, Ferrell for Barbie, Schwartzman for Asteroid City, and Urata for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Taylor's long resume includes Legally Blonde (2001), 101 episodes of Two and a Half Men (the only one on this list I didn't watch), 37 of Bosom Buddies, 29 of The Practice, six episodes of The Chair (starring Oh), and ten of The Morning Show.

Reubens, best known for playing Pee-Wee Herman on screens big and small, also has many other credits, including Batman Returns (1992) and Life During Wartime. Yu, new to me, has directed a handful of features and dozens of TV episodes and short films, one of which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short. D'Angelo has two other feature screenwriting credits to her name, one of which has been in some festivals this fall and not yet released wider.

What are 80 and 84%? Rotten Tomatoes' critics' and audiences' averages. We streamed it on Hulu with our subscription on November 7.