Queenpins is based on an unbelievable true story

Kristen Bell comedy Queenpins is now available to stream on Netflix – here’s everything you need to know about the unbelievable true story it’s based on.

Kristen Bell in an all-out comedy? No wonder 2021 movie Queenpins is already making an impression on Netflix, where it’s now available to stream.

The film’s official synopsis reads: “A housewife and her friend come up with a scheme to scam millions from big conglomerates through coupons. A loss prevention officer teams up with a postal inspector to track them.”

Although its premise seems far-fetched, Queenpins is actually based on an unbelievable true story – here’s everything you need to know.

The unbelievable true story behind Queenpins

Although the lead characters of Connie Kaminski and Joanna ‘JoJo’ Johnson are made up, Queenpins takes loose inspiration from a real-life couponing scam that racked up millions of dollars.

According to BusinessWire, the actual scam was implemented by three women in Arizona – Robin Ramirez, Marilyn Johnson, and Amiko ‘Amy’ Fountain. The trio sold counterfeit coupons across sites such as www.savvyshoppersite.com and eBay, managing to render around $40 million.

Executive Director of the Coupon Information Center, Bud Miller, said in a statement: “This case clearly demonstrates the dangers of purchasing coupons on the Internet, whether it is from independent websites, e-mail, or from online auctions.

“Coupon buyers expose themselves to the possibility of becoming involved with counterfeits, stolen property, or other criminal activities. They may also expose themselves to additional risk by providing their names, home addresses, and financial information to organized crime rings.”

Police Sergeant Dave Lake later added [via Yahoo]: “These aren’t ’50 cent off’ coupons. These are ‘free item’ coupons. For Iams, you get this coupon from her for $10 and you can get a $70 item… If you can get an unlimited number of those, think how this grows.”

Queenpins writer-directors Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly told The Hollywood Reporter: “The framework, the scam is really true to what happened, how they got these counterfeit coupons. They sold them off of this website, similar to what we do. Postal inspectors were involved. They made all of this money and bought sports cars and guns and all of these sorts of things that are similar to what happened.”

“The characters themselves are complete creations,” they added. “That was something where we just really wanted to say something with these characters, and wanted them to be lovable with people rooting for them, and it felt like the easiest thing to do was to take that framework but then create our own story and our own characters within that framework of the scam.”

Is Queenpins worth watching?

Queenpins currently has an audience score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes – although critics have looked on it less favorably.

John Anderson at The Wall Street Journal wrote: “Queenpins won’t change anyone’s life, though as a study of ‘pink-collar crime,’ it takes its audience through a rather fascinating journey into blithe corruption.”

Max Weiss at Baltimore Magazine added: “Queenpins is mostly silly fun, and it zips along a nice clip. It made me LOL several times – but considering the richness of the source material, it’s a bit disappointing that it never made me think.”

Ema Sasic at Next Best Picture agreed: “There are plenty of fun performances in Queenpins, and it explores characters in a way that many other comedies don’t, but the film isn’t particularly memorable.”