Let’s Get Quizzical

For Charlotte, trivia is a family tradition, and winning one of her favorite quiz shows, Brain Battle, would help her pay for much-needed medical care for her grandmother. At a Brain Battle audition, she is shocked to run into Eli, the ex who broke her heart 12 years ago. Even worse, they get paired as contestants. Although they’ve been forced together, their friendship is soon rekindled, and Brain Battle’s viewers love their will they/won’t they tension. When the show’s producers offer to feed them answers to keep the ratings-boosting relationship on air, Charlotte is aghast, but Eli is in a bind, forced to choose between protecting his family or breaking Charlotte’s heart once more. Ohlert (To Get to the Other Side) crafts an uplifting rom-com. The present-day banter is engaging, and the love scenes are steamy, but the backstory doesn’t build sufficient chemistry. Narrators Erin Bennett and Tim Lounibos are an incongruous pair. Lounibos sounds older than Eli’s 30 years, and his supporting characters are oddly cartoonish. Bennett, however, is well matched to the friendly, funny Charlotte.