The Reel Review
Two train attendant besties just hired by The Glamazonian Express must save the day when their runaway bullet train faces a derailment due to an approaching “stormaganza.” RuPaul and an array of drag queens made famous from his long-running TV game show RuPaul’s Drag Race star in this screwball disaster movie parody.
Stop! That! Train! is an intentionally stupid, camp comedy in the spirit of 1977’s Airplane!, filled with loads of silly, laugh-out-loud moments. The strongest performances are from Ginger Minj and Jujubee as the besties, Brooke Lynn Hytes (Brock Hayhoe) as the villainous train attendant in first class, Matt Rogers (I Love That for You, Fire Island) as President Gagwell’s Press Secretary, Brian Jordan Alvarez (English Teacher, M3GAN) as the dimwitted co-conductor Cal, and Latrice Royale as Barbra, the woman with a multitude of jobs.
Surprisingly, it is RuPaul’s President Gagwell that is one of the weaker elements in the film, which is chocked full of cameos which include Charo, Sarah Michelle Geller, Joel McHale, Lisa Rinna and Nicole Ritchie. Not all of the corny jokes land, but enough of them do to make this a good-natured, brainless, one-time watch.
REEL FACTS
• RuPaul Charles, the world’s most famous drag queen, has won 14 Emmy Awards for RuPaul’s Drag Race and a 2022 Tony Award for producing the Broadway musical A Strange Loop.
• Stand-up comedian Rachel Bloom, who plays train traffic controller Donna Dusk in the film, is best known for co-creating and starring in the dramedy series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and for her voice work in Robot Chicken, Trolls World Tour, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and soon-to-be released The Angry Birds Movie 3.
• Stop! That! Train! was filmed in just 19 days.
Video & Photo
