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We’ve all used coupons, right? Coupons are an easy way to save money, but they also give us a little thrill when we use them, almost like we’ve gotten away with something (apparently it’s been scientifically proven that using coupons does boost a person’s oxytocin levels which creates a sense of happiness in the user). Some people have become ‘extreme couponers’ — there have been TV series about such people — who know exactly when, where and how to shop to save hundreds of dollars, sometimes even being owed money, while ending up with a massive storage room that could actually be their own grocery store. Is that kind of couponing savvy or ridiculous?
For Arizona housewife Connie (Kristen Bell), couponing is her ‘job’. Her awful husband Rick (Joel McHale) is an auditor for the IRS, and they have spent over $70,000 attempting to get pregnant through IVF which has depleted their bank account. He sees her couponing as spending money they don’t have but she sees it as saving money when she can get multiple items for a fraction of the cost (but she doesn’t seem to understand she’s still spending $50 on several bottles of detergent when she could spend $5.00 on one). Connie is well-known at her local grocery store for whipping out a stack of coupons at the end of her purchase, pissing of the cashier (she somehow seems to always end up in the same line) to no end. One day her frustrations with her marriage, and the constant reminder of the pregnancy she lost, drives her to open a box of Wheaties and eat them dry. Feeling they taste stale, she fires off a letter to General Mills, pointing out that she is a former Olympian (in Speed Walking … apparently that’s a thing) and that the cereal is the ‘breakfast of Chump-ions’. She gets an apologetic response and … a coupon for a free box of Wheaties. The cashier tells her she isn’t special, that any company will send a free coupon for a complaint. Oh really?
Connie’s neighbor Jojo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) fancies herself as some type of discount shopping guru, believing her own YouTubing about how to save money is also a ‘job’ (her mother thinks otherwise). Connie tells Jojo about the free coupons and shows her all the freebies she got after firing off a stack of letters to different companies. What she did notice was that the letters were all going to the same company, basically a clearing house for complaints and coupons. Connie was able to track down where the coupons are printed, in Chihuahua, Mexico (not far from where they live in Arizona) and hatches a plan to work with someone at the printer to ‘Robin Hood’ excess coupons to sell at half the price of the actual products. The scheme works and they end up making over $5 million at a rapid pace but … someone is on to them, and their scheme is exposed in a most unexpected way.
Queenpins is actually better than I expected it to be. Did it need to be a theatrical film? I don’t know if this is a subject that will drag people into theaters during a pandemic or anytime, really. Without the star power of Bell, Howell-Baptiste and Vince Vaughn, it could have easily been a made-for-TV movie on Lifetime. But the film has a winning screenplay that doesn’t hit too heavy-handedly, keeps the dramatic situations fairly muted and uses humor to tell the story in an organic way. Nothing feels too over-the-top in a story that seems unbelievable but is based on truth, which is bent considerably when it comes to the FBI’s involvement in the case. (In reality it was three women who made over $40 million in 2010.)
In addition to the script, the film thrives on the winning performances by Bell and Howell-Baptiste. Bell, who also gets to do some Gossip Girl-style voice-over, is perfect as the annoyingly chirpy couponer who brings an air of superiority to the store with her. But she does have a good personality and it’s easy to see how anyone could get drawn into her scheme. Bell is also allowed to have a few dramatic moments with her husband and failed pregnancy, and you almost want to see her get away with her operation. Kirby Howell-Baptiste is equally charming, the Ethel to Bell’s Lucy in this situation, trying to be the voice of reason but always falling into Connie’s plan, much to her mother’s chagrin. Jojo had to move back in with her mother after an identity theft incident, and these little touches of backstory for the characters are just enough to help us sympathize with them so that their crimes don’t seem so egregious (even though what they did cost the corporations millions of dollars).
Bell and Howell-Baptiste are pros, but the real surprise here is singer Bebe Rexha as ‘Tempe Tina’. As a teenager, Tina was the one who stole Jojo’s identity, basically because she was bored and didn’t consider the consequences on Jojo’s life. Now she’s parlayed her hacking skills into a high paying business of her own in which companies — and governments — use her servics to prevent hacking (and for the right price, she’ll do some hacking as well). Tina’s attitude says she really doesn’t have time for these women but at the same time she’s impressed with what they’ve accomplished thus far and gives them pointers on how to hide their website’s IP and how to divest their money after they stupidly put it all in one bank account. Rexha gives a really good performance and I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of her in the film.
The cast is rounded out by Joel McHale as Connie’s husband (in the ‘dick mode’ McHale has perfected over the years), Paul Walter Hauser is Ken, the guy from a grocery chain’s corporate office who first spots the counterfeit coupons (they keep saying the coupons are fake but they seem to be real coupons as they come from the actual printer, just excess ones that were to be destroyed) gets to be a bit annoying in his quest to find the culprits, but I suppose he is meant to be the ‘villain’ to the women’s ‘heroes’ (it is framed as a Robin Hood story, after all), and Vince Vaughn is the stoic, by-the-book agent tracking leads and putting up with Ken who fancies himself as a deputized agent.
Queenpins works because of its screenplay and its two wonderful lead performances, and it’s a nice evening’s entertainment if you’re watching at home. If you really want to venture out and see a movie, maybe hit up a matinee for this one … or wait until September 30th when the film streams on Paramount Plus. It’s not the greatest must-see movie ever made, but it has it’s charms and it definitely is worth a viewing.
Want to see Queenpins and judge for yourself? Click on the image below to see the movie, and be sure to come back and tell us what you thought! Use our Paramount Plus link to subscribe and stream the movie at home!
Queenpins has a run time of 1 hour 51 minutes and is rated R for language throughout.
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