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...
The film is about three guys: Len, Meat and Phil. Len is the champion of a NSW surf life saving club and finds his position threatened by the club’s new golden boy Phil. Phil is younger, more handsome and gay. Phil being gay is an issue for Len, which we later find out does not come from ignorance, but rather his own repressed gay desires caused by an abusive father and the relentless machismo of his social circle. On the night of celebration of Phil’s win Len manipulates Meat (who for some reason does everything that Len wants him to do) into stripping an almost unconscious Phil of his clothes, burying him in sand up to his neck, and forcing him to sit back and watch the tide come in and drown Phil. Fortunately Meat succumbs to his instincts and rescues Phil before the waves take his life. Len, however, purposely swims too far into the ocean, ultimately drowning himself.
As mentioned before, the story unfolds in bits and pieces. At some point you feel the bis are getting along well together while at the other instant, it seems they are not. There are a lot of scenes involving bar shopping and straight-ish male bonding. I am not really sure if actually Australian beach culture (especially life guards) are as homophobic as its shown in the film but none the less the film makes for a thrilling watch. The men are pretty good looking and can also act well. The one big down side of the film for me was the non-linear story telling approach , which takes a while to put pieces together. The three-way balance of this relationship is the film’s most interesting element. Len and Meat’s relationship for example seems to be the only one in the entire film born of an actual friendship and loyalty. I am not sure of the voyeuristic approach to a twisted act of sadism and humiliation was necessary but I guess this is what shows an example of human psyche.
The film could have been lot more powerful but at the end it just ends up being an average satisfying thrill movie experience. (5/10)
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