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...
Stephen and John are both struggling young actors who live in a very open and proudly gay section of Dublin. They are both extras (or crowd arteeeeest, as their agent likes to call it). They are close friends and enjoy the daily ups and downs of the single gay life including drinking, flirting and just having fun. John has a masculine lover, who is in prison and they both yearn for each other. Meanwhile Stephen meets a guy couple of times, but nothing happens. It turns out that this guy is David, who happens to be the director of the commercial who have signed Stephen for it, making that his big break. David is a player and doesn't shy away from hiring prostitutes for fun. After a few meetings, David and Stephen fall for each other but some misunderstanding occurs when one of David's old tricks gets overdosed in his apartment. All's well that ends well. John gets to marry his imprisoned lover eventually and Stephen and David start all over again afresh.
From a story perspective, it's a very simple one. The two friends are very close and thankfully the makers don't try and create any unnecessary sexual tension between them. Yes, gays can be just close friends too. Falling for David, in my opinion, was very opportunistic on Stephen's part, when he finds out that he is a director. David is the same guy whom he had subbed earlier saying that David will never be able to have him. Why would David forget that, is beyond my comprehend, but I guess eventually they both end up genuinely liking each other. John's love story is funny and adds some light moments to the film. Besides this, there are a lot of random characters who pop in and out not adding much to proceedings as a whole. My favorite was the agent who liked to be called Duchess. There is really not much to talk about in this film. It is a strictly very average, very basic, neither boring nor entertaining film. Oh! And I have no idea what's the reference of the title. I'd appreciate if someone could educate.
I usually like or hate or have simple opinion about a film, but this film was something I really didn't care much about. It wasn't horrible. It was just 'meh!'. (3.5/10)
Comments