movie review of queen bees

Didn't you get the email?

By joining, you agree to the Terms and Policies and Privacy Policy and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

User 8 or more characters with a number and a lowercase letter. No spaces.

username@email

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

About Rotten Tomatoes®
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening This Week
Top Box Office
Coming Soon to Theaters
Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most Popular Streaming Movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

80% Emilia Pérez Link to Emilia Pérez
96% A Real Pain Link to A Real Pain
100% All We Imagine as Light Link to All We Imagine as Light

New TV Tonight

70% Dune: Prophecy: Season 1
75% Landman: Season 1
-- Interior Chinatown: Season 1
-- Based On A True Story: Season 2
-- The Sex Lives of College Girls: Season 3
100% Outlander: Season 7
-- A Man on the Inside: Season 1
-- Cruel Intentions: Season 1
-- Our Oceans: Season 1
-- Making Manson: Season 1

Queen Bees Reviews

Director Michael Lembeck handles it all with an anonymous efficiency.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2022

A winning cast weaves a warm dramedy about love amongst the elderly.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 26, 2021

Never mind that the film has choppy production values, plays like a paid advertisement for retirement communities, and is so sweet that you may get diabetes from the script. Most senior citizens are going to love it.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2021

Queen Bees manages to touch on some heavy subjects like the inability to continue your independence while at the same time delivers some amusing moments that may even leave you smiling.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.75/4 | Jun 30, 2021

It's a film that seems to have been dreamt up by a reverent grandchild who assumed they knew everything there was to know and never thought to ask the grandparent themselves.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 18, 2021

Nothing to offend here, just a pleasant time-filler that will help you while away an afternoon and give you an excuse to eat some movie theater popcorn.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Jun 18, 2021

Feels like a TV movie, quite frankly... I didn't think there was great chemistry between Burstyn and Caan.

Full Review | Jun 16, 2021

Just like the card game that brings its characters together, this run-of-the-mill film could have an upside: providing a bridge for conversation between generations.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 15, 2021

An ideal date night or friends' group evening out. Love is love and there's no expiration date. Or, as Curtin's bossy biddy says, tongue planted firmly in cheek, "Eighty is the new 18."

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 14, 2021

As a fellow viewer noted, Queen Bees provides sweet, sometimes touching, entertainment. Yet the movie doesn't invite a second viewing.

Full Review | Jun 13, 2021

Pleasant enough to warrant almost two hours of your time.

An esteemed cast cannot rescue this sweet yet contrived golden-years romantic comedy that doesn't exactly age gracefully.

Full Review | Jun 12, 2021

The cast gets A's, but "Queen Bees" gets a C-.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 12, 2021

All of these actors have had stellar, awards-laden careers, and this new film, which could be described as Mean Girls in a retirement home, proves they still have a lot of firepower left.

Full Review | Jun 11, 2021

To the filmmakers' (minor) credit, they do briefly touch on issues like dementia and loneliness, but too little too late.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jun 11, 2021

Nice to see this legendary crew, led by the luminescent Ellen Burstyn, prove it's never too late to find love, friendship or take risks. Donald Martin's screenplay is acerbically hilarious

A TV movie. How did Loretta Divine not kill these writers?

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jun 11, 2021

This is a movie that's far more effective than its buzz. Because if this picture does anything (and yes, it does), it proves good, experienced actors can elevate even the most ordinary of scripts.

There are fine moments here, and there are also a lot of sappy, jokey, manipulative, and insincere ones.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 11, 2021

Half a dozen veteran performers do their best to elevate a patchy script in Queen Bees, a gentle romantic comedy set in a retirement community.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 11, 2021

Cast & crew
User reviews

Ann-Margret, Ellen Burstyn, James Caan, Jane Curtin, and Loretta Devine in Queen Bees (2021)

After reluctantly agreeing to move into a home for seniors, a woman encounters a clique of mean-spirited women and an amorous widower. After reluctantly agreeing to move into a home for seniors, a woman encounters a clique of mean-spirited women and an amorous widower. After reluctantly agreeing to move into a home for seniors, a woman encounters a clique of mean-spirited women and an amorous widower.

Michael Lembeck
Donald Martin
Harrison Powell
Ellen Burstyn
Jane Curtin
Loretta Devine
72 User reviews
22 Critic reviews
52 Metascore
2 nominations

Top cast 29

Helen Wilson

Janet Poindexter

Sally Hanson

Margot Clark

Arthur Lane

Dan Simpson

Lito Santos

Ken DeNardo

Peter Crane

Laura Crane

Anne Rothstein

Next-Door Neighbor

Woman with Walker #1
(as Linda Beatrice Boston)

Woman with Walker #2
(as Peggy Walton)

Woman with Casserole #1
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia Inspired by the true story of producer Harrison Powell 's grandmother's second chance at love after moving into a retirement community as a widow.
Goofs At the beginning of the movie Ellen Burstyn gets trapped outside the house twice, which is impossible with the kind of lock she has on her door.

Helen Wilson : I mean, like, saving seats, cliques. They're like "Mean Girls" but with medical-alert bracelets.

Crazy credits Snapshots of senior couples getting engaged and married are shown during the end credits.
Connections References Gone with the Wind (1939)
Soundtracks Jasmine Breeze Performed by Andrew Dorfman Written by Andrew Dorfman Courtesy of Megathor Music