Queenpins (2021)

Queenpins (2021)

 

7/10

Starring

Kristen Bell

Kirby Howell-Baptiste

Directed by Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly

(Contains spoilers)

I have to say Queenpins is one of those movies that does not try to pass any moral message across, just two women who decided to beat the system and did. The movie is loosely based on a real coupon scam. When watching though what you end up wishing is that the movie itself was totally real and that the ladies got away with their scam with just a slap on the wrist.

Acting wise Kristen Bell (Connie) and Kirby Howell-Baptiste (JoJo) made this comedy worth every minute. I feel the movie could have hit a homerun with shorter running time, but that said the comedy was subtle. The movie had a more drama feel and the best way to describe the movie is a drama with some light comedy, which I believe is not what the writers and director were aiming for.

Here you are watching a movie about a woman who is having a huge blow to her existence. Connie has had four miscarriages from IVF treatments which has sunk the family down a financial black hole. Her husband was written to be a jerk, something I believe the movie should have done something more creative with his presence. It was certain the writers wanted him out of the way so the ladies could carry out their scam with a lot of freedom, but making the man the monster has been overdone. Like I said his presence in the movie was not needed. He was written to blame his wife for their present financial issues. The way he decided to handle it is to spend three out of four weeks flying about for work.

Well with his presence no longer influential in her life Connie has dived into shopping to ward off the depression and loneliness. Since they don’t have money coupons has become her thing and when I say her thing, she was a legend. She with her neighbor JoJo collect coupons to try and get ahead. JoJo has a bad credit and together the pair came up with an idea from sending a customer complaint mail.

When she got a free coupon back from a product complain mail, she wrote more (fake ones this time) and got more free coupons. From there a scam was birthed. They tracked down the company that made the coupons for the big companies, got an inside man to help them steal coupons and started selling fake coupons. They went further, got consulting from a tech guru and did all they could to take advantage of the system. Then we have a character created to be another punk, who is tasked with finding out the people behind the scam and getting them to face the books.

In the end I really enjoyed the movie and I think you will too.