Quiz (film)

America , 1958 Entertainment TV shows are very popular, and one of them is the NBC TV show “21”, the participants of which answer the questions of the presenter and, using their erudition, earn money live by competing with each other. The TV program gathers millions of viewers in the evenings in front of TV screens, and the producers are ready to go to any tricks in the struggle for rating.

One of the participants in the television quiz, Herbert Stemple, who has been a leader in the struggle for the grand prize for a long time, is rapidly losing its popularity for a number of reasons, and television producers decide to get rid of it. By coincidence, at this moment a new applicant for participation in the TV show - Charles Van Doren, who embodies the intellectual model of America at that time, comes to the studio and passes the selection, successfully answering all the interview questions. The producers immediately reveal to the protagonist the true rules: the participant of the game, who, according to the owners of the television company, should hold out all season, receives a list of questions and the correct answers before each television broadcast. At stake is a large amount of winnings. Overcoming a moment of doubt, Van Doren enters the path of deception. Using various arguments, the previous favorite Herbert Stemple is forced to answer incorrectly to the simplest question of the quiz show, promising him to participate in other programs, and he leaves the show "21".

Having taken his place, Charles Van Doren quickly becomes incredibly popular among viewers and takes part in a television show for fourteen weeks. However, gradually the protagonist comes into conflict with himself. Intrapersonal conflict is aggravated by the fact that, as a talented writer, university teacher, incredibly erudite from childhood, Van Doren exchanged his best qualities for money and cheap popularity. Simultaneously with these events, the US Congress subcommittee on media oversight decides to investigate the activities of the organizers of the 21 television show. The main character of the film faces a dilemma: to continue participating in a television game, deceiving the whole country, or to remain an honest person.

When the main prize reaches $ 120,000, at the decisive moment during the program’s broadcast, Charles Van Doren deliberately gives the wrong answer to the question, the correct answer to which he is well aware, and leaves the game show to the losers. However, the main tests ahead of him - without waiting for the agenda, he himself comes to a hearing in Congress.

September 14, 1994 began a limited rental movie. As a result, fees in North America totaled $ 24,822,619, which is why the Televiz quiz failed at the box office. ^[2]

The rating of the film on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is 96% of positive reviews out of 55 ^[3] .

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of four possible, calling its script “smart, subtle and merciless” ^[4] .

According to the observer of the Kommersant newspaper Mikhail Trofimenkov , “the film is too conversational and too rooted in the realities of American mass culture to ignite the spectator’s interest” ^[5] .