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...
Martin is sent by his father to retrieve some family document from the family of his deceased grandfather on the southern coast. His closest friend Tomaso decides to join him. They stay at their father’s beach house during this cold time. Almost first hour of the film focuses on the boys randomly walking streets of deserted town, killing time, drinking and smoking and finally picking up certain other young girls and a boy for an evening full of drinking. The next day when Martin goes to the family house again for the second time and has made some progress compared to the first visit, is when he asks Tomaso if the guy back at home is his boyfriend? This is the first time the boys openly talk about Tomaso being gay. Tomes tell Martin everything. More conversations follow before what’s expected happens. Both the boys realize that their feelings for each other might have been more than friends and its time to explore each other as lovers.
This film could have been so much better as a short film or something that would focus on something more concrete. Shaky frames, hand-held cameras, awkward pauses, sharp focus on faces, blue sky, aimlessly wandering; all this become a little too much too handle after a while and you wanna scream for the film to move ahead. The performances of the actors of average at the best but in my opinion, there was only so much they could do. The basic fault lies with the director and the script. This experiment is too much of a self-indulgent where the viewers are taken for a joyride without testing or caring for what they would expect.
There are a lot better teenage coming-out stories which keep you interested and you feel for the characters as well. This one unfortunately doesn’t come anywhere closer to anything. (3/10)
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