Wondering if Queenpins is ok for kids and teens? Queenpins is rated R for language, and well, theft. This dramedy based on true events does have some laughs, but there could have been more. Sometimes I wondered who I should be rooting for as the protagonists engage in some shady behavior. Here’s what parents need to know in this Queenpins Parents Guide.
Queenpins Parents Guide
Connie Kaminski (Kristen Bell) is an ex-Olympian who is living a quiet and boring life in the suburbs. After going through several rounds of IVF and losing a baby, she has refocused some of that grief into becoming an extreme couponer with best friend and neighbor, JoJo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). After firing off an angry letter to a cereal company after buying a stale box, she receives a coupon for a free box.
This gives Connie and JoJo the brilliant(?) idea to create an illegal coupon club scheme that scams millions from corporations and delivers deals to thousands of fellow coupon clippers and savvy shoppers. However Loss Prevention Officer, Ken (Paul Walter Hauser) from the local supermarket chain joins forces with a determined U.S. Postal Inspector (Vince Vaughn) in hot pursuit of these newly-minted “Queenpins” of pink collar crime. Nobody messes with the Postal Service.
Why is Queenpins rated R?
Queenpins is rated R due to a lot of language and some mature subject material.
Language
There is a lot of language in Queenpins. I eventually had to stop counting after 15 uses of sh*t, 16 uses of fu*k, 2 motherfu*kers, 4 uses of a**, a couple of bullsh*ts, bit*hes, and g-ddamns. There are also a few uses of dick.
Mature Content
A man is shown sitting on the toilet with his pants down; you can’t really see anything except some leg.
Some may be triggered by miscarriage and infertility.
There is a scene where guns are pulled out, but nobody is shot.
The whole premise of the movie is morally shaky as the women are basically stealing from corporations.
Is Queenpins Appropriate for Kids Under 16?
The major issue for teens is language in Queenpins. If that doesn’t bother you, then the rest is probably fine. Will teens like Queenpins? Some of the story drags, but Vince Vaughn and Paul Walter Hauser make up for some of the lag.
Queenpins didn’t quite live up to its potential. Kristen Bell is one of my favorite actresses. Her usual subtlety and wit can normally win me over. However, I missed the chemistry that she and Howell-Baptiste have in The Good Place.
Howell-Baptiste had just the right amount of energy to make me love her character without going overboard.
It was Hauser and Vaughn’s unlikely duo that made me laugh more, which made me a little sad, because I really wanted to root for the bad-A boss ladies taking down the man. However, Hauser’s awkwardness and excitement for the law sometimes made him endearing. Or perhaps it was just my moral compass that wouldn’t let me engage with the ladies a bit.
I’m not saying there’s not a part of me that always wanted to put corporations in their place, especially those that take advantage of the public, because there is. And maybe it’s that side that allows us to relate to the Queenpins. You can’t help but sympathize with Connie, when her douchey husband (Joel McHale) tells her to move on after losing a child.
While I wanted more (and didn’t need quite so much foul language), Queenpins will give you that free coupon high for a hot minute. Now when’s that Sunday paper coming?
