My Review of "Queenpins"

Queenpins is a movie that came out in 2021. I guess you could categorize it as a crime caper movie of sorts. What I didn't know was that this movie was loosely based off a true story. It's a shame I can't identify what was real and what wasn't but I liked what they did with some of the story in this one.

It all starts off with a simple coupon clippings. Our main protagonist Connie is a stereotypical coupon clipper. Her life seems to emulate those YouTube or TV shows where someone would collect tons of coupons and buy gargantuan amounts of things for pennies.

She has a best friend named JoJo that shares her affinity for coupons. The two of them are always looking for great deals. JoJo even created a YouTube channel dedicated to the savings she makes from the coupons.

One fateful day after a very stressful situation, Connie starts munching on one of the products she's accumulated. It so happened to be stale and this further infuriates her. She's so infuriated that she sends an angry complaint to the company about the quality of her product. She doesn't think much of it afterwards.

Fortunately the company came back to Connie. With an apologetic letter they gave Connie a coupon to reimburse her for the product. As Connie explains this to JoJo a lightbulb moment happens. Connie then devises a plan that could potentially make them money.

The movie then continuously gets more and more exaggerated as these two best friends navigate their way through deception and greed. The best thing about it is that you can see this situation actually happening in real life. Obviously this is probably what was based off a real situation however some of the crazy things that happen afterwards are a little ridiculous.

This movie also makes us question societies priorities. Here you have a woman doing something which is most definitely illegal but no one pays any attention to it. Even the most miniscule things in life can snowball into gigantic issues. That was the case in this story.

If this could have fallen through the cracks I can't imagine all the other schemes that are out there that no one pays attention to. One of the main reasons Connie and JoJo were able to get away it for so long was the fact that it was coupons. Coupons aren't as provocative to the likes of drugs, murder or terrorism so people turn their heads away from it.

In some ways I wonder if it's because law enforcement is a male dominated profession. Men might not see things like this as being a desirable thing to look into. That was definitely portrayed in this movie and it makes a lot of sense. it tells us all if we want to get into a life of crime don't go do what they all expect you to do. To become successful you have to do what no one else is doing. That way no one will be looking for you.

This movie does have a lot of laughs too though. The scenarios the two misfits get themselves into are pretty hilarious. Not to mention the enforcement coming after our dynamic duo. They're pretty funny because everything is underneath their noses but they don't bother looking in those simple places.

One of the characters is Ken, played by Paul Walter Houser. It seems like this guy continues to play the same character in a lot of movies. I could have swore he did the same exact character in the movie Richard Jewell. He does the role really well but I feel like he might be typecasting himself.

Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by this one. It was fun to see the ups and downs of our two queens of coupons. The pacing was really nice and it was an informative movie. I have to give this one a 7 out of 10. I think I'll be recommending this to a few of my friends especially ones that like caper movies.