#SOLOSTORIES: “QUIZ LADY”

#SoloStories is our feature in which we explore books, films and TV shows that show single women navigating their lives – but romance is not the main component.      

Question: What’s a good movie to watch that is tons of fun and doesn’t have the obligatory partner/husband/boyfriend?

Answer: The movie is 2024’s “Quiz Lady”!

Anne Yum (Awkwafina) works for CPYay! accounting services, invisible to her coworkers and everyone else, except a neighbor who needs to complain to get attention. Her sister, Jenny (Sandra Oh), has gone from actress to fashion designer to life coach, all of which she thinks as her “destinies.”

They’re brought together when their mom goes missing. Kidnappers take Anne’s beloved dog, Linguini, and demand $80,000.

But Jenny thinks of a solution. Anne should appear on “Can’t Stop the Quiz!,” the game show she has watched obsessively since she was 4 years old. Most of all, Jenny wants to change Anne’s life.

“You’re like a 28-year-old woman living the life of a 98-year-old widower,” Jenny tells Anne.

But Anne is nervous when she goes through the auditions. “I’ve just been so scared of being judged, being laughed at,” she says of her life.

This being a comedy, this story is played for laughs, with running jokes about Benjamin Franklin and Alan Cumming. But Anne has the brains to answer the questions, which are more difficult than the typical game show. The movie, which streams on Hulu and won the 2024 Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie, also features fun cameos from Will Ferrell and Holland Taylor.

There’s not a note of romance in the movie. It’s nice to see a show without the social conformity of a partner and cliches of the hapless or needy husband. You just sit back with some pizza and enjoy the movie without somebody questioning why they need a boyfriend.

The movie does show the importance of needing someone to help you out even when you think you’re fine on your own. At the end, Anne learns to stand up for herself, and Jenny discovers she can help others and not just live for herself.

“I feel like we make a pretty good team,” Anne says.