Quiz Lady

Tapping into the fanaticism of game-show aficionados with affection and sincerity, Quiz Lady nevertheless is a trivial misfire.

This breezy comedy from director Jessica Yu (Ping Pong Playa) is a predictably quirky saga of sibling reconciliation, mixing zany misadventures with a more heartfelt search for common ground.

Along the way, it generates some scattered big laughs from a broad mix of sight gags and one-liners — as well as its tweaking of cultural stereotypes — but the odd-couple chemistry between the estranged sisters wears thin before the bonus round.

The story follows Anne (Awkwafina), an introverted Philadelphia accountant obsessed with a long-running trivia show called “Can’t Stop the Quiz.” She’s enamored with the charming host (Will Ferrell), hates the smug defending champion (Jason Schwartzman), and rattles off answers every night with her loyal pug by her side.

Her routine is interrupted by the arrival of cartoonishly impetuous older sister Jenny (Sandra Oh), who’s been led to believe their mother has died. Not true, but she has fled to Macau with a secret lover to skip out on some gambling debts.

That leads to mobsters knocking at Anne’s door for restitution, and Jenny hatching a crazy scheme involving their cantankerous neighbor (Holland Taylor) to get Anne on the game show in order to pay up.

The screenplay by Jen D’Angelo (Hocus Pocus 2) works best as an underdog wish-fulfillment fantasy, but you have to grind through a lot of labored gags and melodramatic contrivances to find a rooting interest.

The film makes an amusing vehicle for Awkwafina’s deadpan neuroses, but Oh’s over-the-top shtick is more obnoxious than endearing. The late Paul Reubens has a tacked-on cameo that’s surprisingly effective.

It’s worth noting that the game show itself is almost more compelling than the movie surrounding it, with Ferrell especially good as the host, perhaps channeling a dialed-back variation on his Alex Trebek impersonation from the hilarious series of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” sketches on “Saturday Night Live” from 20 years ago.

At any rate, Quiz Lady follows a familiar narrative arc, hinting at a deeper exploration of ethnic identity that rarely materializes. Lacking a proper balance between outrageous antics and grounded pathos, it doesn’t have all the answers.

Rated R, 99 minutes.