Queenpins (2021)

QUEENPINS

AGC Studios/Marquee Entertainment/Red Hour Productions

STXfilms

Release date: 09/10/2021

Social Media

#QUEENPINS

Ratings 

My Rating: 7/10

#whatonwhatsgood Fan Club Rating 61%

Express Review

Can coupons really get you in trouble?  How is that possible?

The movie begins with the introduction to power walking Olympic athlete Connie (Kristen Bell).  Her husband is obnoxious IRS Agent Rick (Joel McHale).  They are in a shaky relationship.  

Connie's next-door neighbor is her best friend JoJo (Howell-Baptiste).  She lives with her mother after her identity was stolen and teaches viewers on her YouTube channel how to save money through couponing. 

They both feel undervalued.

One day, Connie writes a complaint to a large corporation and she receives a coupon.  This made her think ...  She recruits JoJo and the coupon scam begins.

  

Eventually, things get out of hand ($40 million coupon scam) and two dedicated officers [Loss Prevention Officer Ken Miller (Paul Walter Hauser) and U.S. Postal Inspector Simon Kilmurry (Vince Vaughn)] are on the case.  Can these two crime stoppers work together to catch these two BFF wrongdoers?

Aaron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly's “Queenpins” is a fun comedy.   I think you will be entertained.  I think you will like really enjoy the onscreen chemistry between Paul Walter Hauser and Vince Vaughn.  

Directed by

Aron Gaudet, Gita Pullapilly

Written by

Aron Gaudet, Gita Pullapilly

Produced by

Linda McDonough, Nicky Weinstock

Starring

Kristen Bell as Connie Kaminski

Vince Vaughn as Simon Kilmurry

Paul Walter Hauser as Ken Miller

Kirby Howell-Baptiste as JoJo Johnson

Bebe Rexha as Tempe Tina

Dayo Okeniyi as Earl

Joel McHale as Rick Kaminski

Nick Cassavetes as Captain Pain

Michael Masini as Agent Harris

Eduardo Franco as Greg

Paul Rust as Albert Anderson

Marc Evan Jackson as Doctor Girard

Lidia Porto as Mrs. Flores

Greta Oglesby as Mama Josie

Jack McBrayer as Agent Parke

Annie Mumolo as Crystal

Stephen Root as Agent Flanagan

Cinematography

Andrew Wehde

Edited by

Kayla Emter

Music by

Siddhartha Khosla

Bebe Rexha discusses playing "Tempe Tina"

"I was so nervous. This is my first time ever acting in a film. I honestly had a blast. My agent sent me the script and I fell in love with the script. Tempe Tina is a very interesting character. She is spunky, she knows what she likes, she knows how to run her own business, she's a badass, she's a strong woman and she knows what she wants.  

"She's had some really dark days on the web. She is kind of doing tons of illegal stuff but if somebody pays are enough money she'll work for corporations."

Directors Gita Pullapilly & Aron Gaudet discuss Queenpins

"This movie is so much about being undervalued and discounted and how you can overcome. It translates to every single person in our country today.   We're always looking for true stories.  Gita found herself on a coupon blog and stumbled across this short article about these real women who had counterfeited $40,000,000 worth of coupons.  It was a tiny story about 5 lines.  This sounds insane. So as we just started digging. We went to Phoenix and started talking to the detectives there.  We're like this is totally made for a movie."

Kirby Howell-Baptiste discusses her character "JoJo Johnson"

"I got a text from Kristin that was like, Can you do an American accent, and do you like working with me? And I said yes to both.  Then the ball started rolling from there. I play Jojo, Joanna Johnson, and Jojo is a go-getter.  She has her own makeup business. She's a hustler like a true hustler.  She's kind of having to build herself up from scratch living at home with her mom. She was a basketball star at school.  She got scholarships. Her adult life hasn't sort of matched the potential of what has sort of childhood and teenage years look like and she lives next door to Connie, her best friend, Connie Kaminsky.  Yeah, the two of them kind of put their heads together and get into some trouble.

Queenpins is based on a true story.  It is based on three housewives in Arizona who actually pulled off this coupon heist.  

What's interesting is there's a show called extreme coupons, or there was a show which got canceled.  Part of the reason I learned it got canceled was because a lot of the people on the show were using coupons that came from this coupon scam.  Obviously, the show got into legal issues so they shut the show down.  But that's sort of how far this spread it wasn't just like this tiny little thing."

Kristen Bell discusses her character "Connie Kaminski" 

"I was sent this script Queen Pins and everyone had been talking about it.  I read it, and I was engaged from the moment I opened the script until the moment I finished it.  I immediately knew I wanted to do it.  

I play Connie Kaminski, who is a former Olympic race walker.  So in her heyday, when she was in the Olympics, she had quite a bit of a claim, and she felt like she was on top of the world.  And now she's essentially a housewife in Arizona, who is desperately wanting a baby.  She doesn't really have a connection in her marriage and is kind of looking for a way to feel valued.  Enter this coupon scam. 

It's based on the true story of 3 suburban housewives who actually accomplished this.  They laundered $40,000,000 before they were eventually caught by the FBI."

Paul Walter Hauser discusses his character "Ken Miller" and working with Vince Vaughn

"Ken Miller is someone who in real life I don't know that I would have a lot in common with.  He's a good guy but he's just a stickler.  He really believes in Law and Order and following the rules.  Ken is really annoying but is obviously fun to play. It's fun to play people like that.  I really enjoyed playing Ken's nuances, subtleties, and idiosyncrasies.  That stuff is a lot of fun and brings about a lot of comedy.

Vince Vaughn (who plays Simon Kilmurry) is really really funny.  He doesn't disappoint. There are some people that you work with who are funny on screen, but not funny offscreen.  Vince is funny all of the time. He's always quick to make you laugh or to cheer you up, or to give a word of advice.  I had a blast working with him."