The bare-bones blueprint for the story is accurate; a small group of women make millions selling counterfeit coupons. The film revolves around an ordinary suburban housewife's desire to forge her own path, which ultimately leads her to the world of scams. Connie, JoJo, Simon (Vince Vaughn) and Ken (Paul Walter Hauser) arewhat Aron and I feelwhat we're all often feeling in this life: undervalued and discounted. Two women create a $40 million coupon scam. They were just two normal women, who felt taken advantage of by major corporations, and genuinely wanted to help other women and families who were struggling. On the other side we have faceless and barely acknowledged corporations (always a convenient bad guy) and an LPO (loss prevention officer, a fancy title for private security). Queenpins has arrived in theaters and on Paramount+, telling the story of the countrys largest counterfeit coupon scam. I just decided I really wanted to play the curmudgeon nature of the character. 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The story of the three womens 2012 arrests for coupon fraud is back in the news, as the major motion picture they inspired is set to open in theaters this Friday. The cruelty-free sacred oil that will anoint Charles as King: Monarch breaks Coronation Day tradition with 'I have nothing to say to you': Father of Mallory Beach - who was killed in a boat crash while Alex Murdaugh's Alex Murdaugh is seen with his prison buzz cut as he starts two life sentences without parole for killing his Family 'mortified' after being thrown out of Mother Goose panto for bringing their baby with them, after venue Is this Britain's most despicable man? David Lake, who led the Phoenix Police Departments investigation, told KPHOat the time. Despite the absurdity of the synopsis, believe it or not,Queenpins is based on a true story. In July 2012, police in Phoenix, Arizona arrested three women in a coupon scam that cost manufacturers roughly $40 million. But the coupons were high-quality counterfeits. But I I sort of didnt approach it from an occupational standpoint, Houser told TheWrap. It isvery pleasurable in the moment but likely to leave you feeling empty and a little queasy. Coupon enthusiast Jill Cataldo warns, "Even though many places sell coupons online, you should never buy them. Queenpins is playing in theaters with plans to stream on Paramount+ in the near future. And thats why they make excuses, he said. Thecomedy Queenpins features a talented cast coming together to tell a crazy true story. They start buying things like sports cars, boats, planes, and guns, but Tina then criticizes their overspending and tells them that because their money was always clean, their purchases are just making them look more suspicious, instructing them to withdraw money from the bank in small increments and to sell off all their big purchases. The other two women pleaded guilty to a single charge of counterfeiting. But Lake determinedly led his team in pursuing the case. Watching "Queenpins" is like eating grocery store birthday cake. Along with paying Procter & Gamble millions of dollars, Ramirez had to serve jail time. Mugshots of the real women behind Queenpins are displayed below. Click here to get in touch, or for information about advertising on the site. Yes. Ramirez, Fountain and Johnson are now having to live with what they did. But thats just Connie and Jojo. [10], On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 47% based on 62 reviews with an average rating of 5.40/10. Related:Free Guy Cast, Characters & All Cameos Guide. Perhaps the most telling sign that things weren't on the up-and-up was the fact that the site advised, "Please do not share this information with people that you don't actually know. The Queenpins true story reveals that there were three women involved in the real-life scheme, not two like in the movie. Indeed, the movie is inspired by a true story, but just how closely does the film follow the events and people its based on? The scheme came crashing down after forty businesses, including major companies like Proctor & Gamble, Hershey, and PepsiCo, filed fraud complaints. For the most part, yes. That includes the details about the women and the two men chasing after them. Of course, the trailer also shows them later living in luxury and boarding private jets. "These aren't 50-cent-off coupons. "We're Robin Hood," the queenpins reassure themselves. But during Proctor & Gamble'sroutine audits ofthird-party coupon processors, the discovered fakes in circulation and hired private investigators to do some more digging. Upon realizing that they could get a coupon for a free item sent to them just by complaining to the manufacturer, they come up with a plan to smuggle and steal cases of those coupons, to then sell to people. What is the Japanese language plot outline for Queenpins (2021)? On the case to bust them: a supermarkets loss-prevention officer and a US postal inspector, played by Paul Walter HauserandVince Vaughn, respectively. The movie, which premieres September 10, offers a comical take on the true story ofRobin Ramirez, Amiko Fountain, and Marilyn Johnson of Phoenix, Arizona, who were arrested in 2012 for their years-long counterfeitingracket and ordered to pay P&G millions in restitution. According to Sgt. They also come into possession of guns, cars and boats in an effort to clean the money theyve made from selling coupons. Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste star in this based-on-a-true-story film about a pair of women whose coupon-counterfeiting operation turned into more than they bargained for. In Queenpins, its Ken Miller who pleads with the FBI to get involved, but in the end, he ends up working with Vince Vaughns postal inspector character, with the reasoning being that the crime was technically committed via snail mail. A charge for forgery was dropped. But Aron [Gaudet] and Gita [Pullapilly], as storytellers our writer and directors have added so many specific elements of storytelling to this about what Connies career was, what Jojos career was, their circumstances in life in order to create a story that you would root for, and then it sort of goes into the nonfiction aspect that it sort of wasnt maybe as necessary to take on a ton of the real life characteristics of the women.. They were ringleader Robin Ramirez (46 at the time of her arrest), Marilyn Johnson (62), and Amiko "Amy" Fountain (42). Ramirezs case was back before a judge as recently as July, when her probation officer reported she was falling behind on her share of the nearly $1.3 million in restitution payments she and her cohorts were ordered to pay. But lets be honest: its hard to feel too sorry for the corporations in this instance. She and JoJo then learn that the coupons originate from an Advanced Solutions factory in Chihuahua, Mexico, deciding to travel there and collect the coupons to redistribute to other mothers and wives. This is much more inspired So we dont really know anything about the real players and we kind of didnt want to. People who purchased coupons on the site could use them for an item and even get cash back if the value of the coupon exceeded the item's price. And where does that curmudgeonly frame come from? In the movie, Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste play Connie and Jojo, a pair of best friends from Phoenix who love extreme couponing. The real Queenpins' mugshots are displayed below. David Lake, who led the Phoenix Police Departments investigation, told KPHOat the time. Bud Miller, who was the Executive Director of the Coupon Information Corporation (CIC), told money-saving columnist Jill Cataldo, "Initial contact was made by a SWAT team removing the front door of a residence by force. And after reading the script and falling massively in love with it, because it was such a grounded comedy, I did some research about these women. Alienated by her uninspiring existence being unemployed and having suffered a miscarriage in an attempt to conceive a child, Connie commiserates with her best friend Joanna "JoJo" Johnson, who has been unable to secure proper employment since having her identity stolen and thus lives with her mother Josephine, attempting to generate revenue by making YouTube videos while being amorously pursued by the local mailman, Earl. She spends her free time drinking coffee and trying to resist the urge to buy any new books before reading the many she already owns. [5] In October 2020, Bebe Rexha joined the cast of the film. Yes, like the grocery store coupons that come with the Sunday paper. The amount covered all of P&G's losses, for the fake coupons as well as extra manpower needed to deal with the issue. She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and Tom Bell, a television news director. Her next acting roleisfor the movie Confess, Fletch. Their unbelievable success eventually catches the attention of law enforcement. ', 'These people aren't buying a few coupons from this site,' Officer James Holmes added. After complaining about cereal gone stale, the pair receives dozens of freebies, inspiring them to hatch an illegal coupon club scheme. Had their deals been a little worse, maybe the women would have never gotten caught. You could only place an order if you had a referral from a current customer, and you had to pay for your order with a Green Dot Moneypak (prepaid debit card). It appeared the women were making so much money, they werent even sure how to spend it all. Ramirez, too, declined to respond to requests for comment. Husband-and-wife filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly did fly to Arizona in 2018 to interview the real detective who worked the case. 'Queenpins' Review: Suburban Scammers Two cash-strapped neighbors devise a multimillion-dollar coupon swindle in this mildly entertaining comedy. Hauser previouslyworked with Howell-Baptiste in Cruella and also appeared in I, Tonya. Ramirez pleaded guilty to illegal control of an enterprise, counterfeiting and fraud. While the characters in the 2021 movieQueenpins call out systemic inequality and the downfalls of capitalism, it's unlikely that their real-life counterparts shared these same sentiments. And after reading the script and falling massively in love with it, because it was such a grounded comedy, I did some research about these women. Bebe Rexha is the tech genius, Tempe Tina. Those are intriguing issues but themovie is less interested in exploring them than it is giving the queenpins makeovers and silly plot detours involving a militia and extended scatological humor. When Connie discovers that a complaint letter about stale cereal earned her a coupon for a free box, it's a short road to finding a $2 an hour employee at the Mexico coupon printing plant (moved from the US to save money) who is willing to send them extras.