06/12/2026
Stop! That! Train! -- Ru Pauls's newest film
Rialto Cinemas , Sebastopol
I just came from seeing "Stop!That! Train! ". In this crazy times, if you want to see a campy fun Q***r movie, full of Drag , then this is a good choice.
This review from Caleb Anderson of Gezettely is a good descripton of Stop! That! Train!
"Adam Shankman’s drag-led disaster parody moves at the speed of a joke machine with a stuck lever, firing puns, sight gags, double takes, and celebrity cameos with little concern for restraint. Directed by Shankman and written by Connor Wright and Christina Friel, the film relocates the classic airline-disaster spoof onto a luxury train, then fills every carriage with glitter, panic, shade, and a heroic disregard for physics.
Ginger Minj and Jujubee play Tess and DeeDee, best friends stuck working for the bargain-bin Stank Rail. Their dream shift arrives through a staff shortage on the Glamazonian Express, a sleek high-speed fantasy staffed by Amber, Ayshleiygh, and Alli, played by Brooke Lynn Hytes, Symone, and Marty Lauter. Glamour curdles fast once the train heads toward a catastrophic “stormaganza,” while RuPaul’s President Judy Gagwell tries to manage the crisis from Washington....
The film’s comic strategy is volume. A joke lands, another swerves, another groans, another scores big. Stop! That! Train! rarely pauses long enough for failure to become fatal. That rhythm is vital, since plenty of gags miss. Some cameos stretch past their best line. A few bits hang in the air, waiting for laughter that may never arrive. Then a PA announcement, a facial expression, or a stupid visual gag pulls the film back onto its rails...The humor covers a broad spread: puns, slapstick, absurd announcements, celebrity self-mockery, lowbrow sight gags, and jokes built from q***r pop-culture fluency. The repeated rag-doll style physical gag is a good example of the movie’s philosophy. ...The strongest writing comes from its understanding of q***r language. The film is packed with references, yes, yet its better jokes are not simple name-checks. They come from tone, phrasing, shade, rhythm, and the quick shift between sincerity and attack. A line like “Can you read me?” invites the obvious drag response, and the timing matters as much as the punchline. The joke works because it understands how a phrase can carry two meanings at once, one practical and one social."
Caleb Anderson , Gazettely See less
