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Stop! That! Train!

Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...

Date And Switch

This film falls under the category of rom-com with a gay twist. The film was overall wuite decent and I saw it with 2 new friends of mine but there were a few moments in the film, which left me questioning on why certain things were happening the way they were. The film is about two high school buddies that cope with the knowledge that one of them is gay. The subject certainly isn't dated, but the film somehow fails to continuously entertain the audience. More on that later.

Michael and Matty have been best friends forever. In their high school, they make a pact that they will get laid at prom. All's well until Matty reveals that he is gay. The film now focusses more on Michael's gay panic rather than Matty's struggle for the same. Michael tries to be supportive by forcing Matty to go to a gay bar and even dancing naked in bubble soap with him. He tries to google "gay" to find more details leading to a hilarious scene between him and his father. Matty meanwhile meets a guy Greg but decides to keep the information away from Michael. Also one night, in a drunk state, Matty ends up having sex with his ex-girlfriend, who these days is quite close to Michael and he likes her. There is a tension that creeps up in their friendship but next thing we know is that they are hanging out together having fun and thats what one of my confusion was. Then at one point, in frustration Michael out's Matty in from of his parents to which he denies and even decides to go to prom with his ex-girlfriend. Michael then comes with Greg to still prove to natty how really supportive he is of Matty's choices.

There were times in movie when suddenly there would be tension between Matty and Michael and then in the next scene they would be having fun. Although Michael was trying to be supportive to Matty, I could not understand as to why would that bother Matty and him getting upset and frustrated. I thought as best friends Michael was doing the right thing. SO it was really never shown what Michael's real conflict was. Then the whole thing about them being part of the band and him not wanting to sing was an unnecessary drag in the film. Moe and more scenes were added just to show Michael's inner conflicts rather than focussing on core issues. Some of the jokes were really falling flat. The only funny scene was when Michael googles "gay". What was really lacking in the film was solid characterization, good dialogue, and interesting plot. The characters feel like teen caricatures and they simply aren’t relatable. The moments like coming out to your best friend of a decade; outing your best friend to his unsuspecting, conservative parents; or sleeping with your ex who your best friend is falling for, are not really examined in detail. They are just scenes to take the film forward which becomes a little annoying after a while.

Just an average time pass gay chick flick IMO. It definitely doesn't get boring. (5.5/10)

Comments

Sailor Maan said…
Beginning was kinda stupid but really fun. Then it just got stupid, with too much non credible relations and outcomes.
Golu said…
I am too old now to appreciate these pretty random teen comedies, unless they offer something really good like the norwegian series SKAM

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