A relatively low-stakes comedy that's sure to please Jeopardy fans and Awkwafina fans alike. Although, Awkwafina plays the responsible sister to Sandra Oh (doing her best Awkwafina impression) and a rare against-type switcheroo in this buddy comedy. Will Ferrell plays ersatz Alex Trebek and Jason Schwartzman plays ersatz Ken Jennings (who's secretly evil) on an ersatz version of Jeopardy that we see and hear about before.
Awkwafina's character, Anne, is some ambiguous form of neurodivergent (she's a shut-in, riddled with anxiety, Asperger's-like memorization skills, etc.) and could make for a great Jeopardy contestant. But she doesn't have the confidence to actually follow through with it.
Problem: Meet impetus -- the sisters amass an enormous debt with the mob when their mother flees the country with gambling bills -- and solution: Oh's character, Jenny, makes it her mission to push her sister out of her shell so they can win their money back. Their journey takes them to a historically accurate inn in Philadelphia (with Tony Hale delightfully cosplaying as Ben Franklin), an acid trip, and a brief alliance between Anne and her casually nihilistic next-door neighbor (Holland Taylor) who has a weird crush on Paul Reubens. What other way is there to crush on Paul Reubens?
The film has enough comic twists to keep things interesting and Awkwafina is hard to resist.
Awkwafina's character, Anne, is some ambiguous form of neurodivergent (she's a shut-in, riddled with anxiety, Asperger's-like memorization skills, etc.) and could make for a great Jeopardy contestant. But she doesn't have the confidence to actually follow through with it.
Problem: Meet impetus -- the sisters amass an enormous debt with the mob when their mother flees the country with gambling bills -- and solution: Oh's character, Jenny, makes it her mission to push her sister out of her shell so they can win their money back. Their journey takes them to a historically accurate inn in Philadelphia (with Tony Hale delightfully cosplaying as Ben Franklin), an acid trip, and a brief alliance between Anne and her casually nihilistic next-door neighbor (Holland Taylor) who has a weird crush on Paul Reubens. What other way is there to crush on Paul Reubens?
The film has enough comic twists to keep things interesting and Awkwafina is hard to resist.