by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
RuPaul, Ginger Minj, Jujubee, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Latrice Royale, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Symone, Matt Rogers
Intro:
… a feature-length version of one of Drag Race’s acting challenges, where personality means more than character and quips make the scene …
World Of Wonder Productions may dominate mainstream drag entertainment through RuPaul’s Drag Race and its galaxy of spin-offs, but they haven’t tried something like Stop! That! Train! since 2021’s The Bitch Who Stole Christmas.
Considering current cultural hostilities towards drag performers in the U.S. and elsewhere, where top-down sentiments have been sliding back towards the days of Boys Beware! Because fear is the Xanax of the masses, having the key media representatives of a demographic with this big a target on their collective backs properly shantay their way into cinemas… well, it makes for a bold statement before anyone on-screen even says a word.
Scripted by the same duo (Christina Friel and Connor Wright) behind The Bitch Who Stole Christmas, Stop! That! Train! takes the piss out of disaster movie cliches as the former did with Hallmark holiday slop. With its approach to background gags and attempts to capture a certain Z/A/Z stone-faced delivery, it feels like it’s reaching for something like Airplane!/Flying High, but such crowns are a bit beyond these ladies’ reach. Not for lack of trying though, as its goof-a-minute pacing and focus on general comedy as opposed to just being a parade of Drag Race in-jokes (although, in fairness, there’s a couple of those here too) manage a similar trick in making an ostensible spoof that isn’t reliant on genre knowledge to work; just that it might help make a bit more sense of some of the smaller winks to the camera.
Then again, ‘sense’ is rarely if ever the point of this whole exercise. Sure, there’s light satire on upper-class opulence and the divide it creates as represented by the train itself (somewhat like Snowpiercer, which actually gets name-dropped at one point), and the quotient of ragingly unhelpful hetero-normative dudes adds a bit to the production’s larger cultural subtext. But in reality, this is basically a feature-length version of one of Drag Race’s acting challenges, where personality means more than character and quips make the scene. And in that regard, it works quite well within those terms.
The Drag Race alumni cast, helmed by RuPaul herself as President Gagwell (aided by not needing to socially distance on-screen like The Bitch Who Stole Christmas) and centred on Jujubee and Ginger Minj as train stewardess besties DeeDee and Tess, are enjoyably bitchy and suitably hammy to carry this film with only two primary sets to work with. While the plethora of ally cameos from the likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar (easily the funniest in attendance) and Nicole Richie, as well as Rachel Bloom’s extended role as the Cassandra who saw the disaster coming (AKA Donna Dusk), keep pace with the Glamazons and their high-volume kitsch. Quite a few jokes get repeated, really testing the limits of the Rule of Three, but the variety on offer helps smooth out the looming déjà vu.
As for the actual film craft, it’s mostly just okay. It’s knowingly stripped-down in terms of production values, but in intentionally capturing the chintziness of the more flamboyant examples in its spoof target sub-genre, it pales in comparison to RuPaul’s own Starbooty’s soft-focus take on retro Blaxploitation. It’s also an approach that occasionally interferes with the film’s more earnest entertainment goals, like when the train attendants deliver safety instructions through musical numbers and, while the choreography and performances are solid, the sound mixing leads to the singing being swallowed by the instruments. Coming from a director like Adam Shankman, who has successfully melded music and laffs with the musical adaptations of Hairspray and Rock of Ages, it’s a bit of a letdown.
Stop! That! Train! is an uncomplicated and fabulous way to spend an hour and a half. Its approach to genre spoofing can come across dated, and the actors aren’t exactly performing for their lives, but off the back of its committed and charismatic cast, and its deeply unserious sense of humour, it earns its time in chuckles and the odd showings of unity and sisterhood. It’s the kind of film that should entertain those who have been on the RuPaul train for the long haul, and for those who might be curious about where to start without pouring through listicles of which Drag Race season to start with, it’s a fun ride when stepped into with an open mind. Come on and feel what the choo choo can do.
