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...
Genevieve and Adrian, two young artists living in San Francisco, become disillusioned with romance after their respective relationships end. The friends undergo a change of lifestyle, and direct their attentions to the chic and superficial. Genevieve begins rehearsing for a play, and Adrian writes his first novel. They individually meet Max, a charming young man who brings color into their synthetic world. The friends begin dating Max, keeping their affairs a secret from one another. When Genevieve and Adrian discover they have been seduced by the same man, their friendship with one another as well as their relationships with Max come under question. As Max continues to promise them his affections, the three attempt to let go of their ideals and form a triangle. But both friend are uncomfortable with it and eventually Adrian decides to bow out telling Genevieve that she should stay with Max since the two really love each other. The friendship starts to crumble and a few weeks later, Max proposes the girl. But the happiness is short lived when Max gets apart in a film to be shot in Paris and Genevieve sees him flirting with girl whom he knew from before, who was having a coffee with Adrian. Genevieve breaks it up with Max and back with Adrian, the duo are back to being disillusioned with love.
The film was interesting and the direction style was something different and vibrant. It's hard to explain what was really different but the way it was filmed was more like a French play, with slow dialogue delivery as of a thinking man's story. Unfortunately nether the story or the film had nothing new to offer. It's a done to death scenario with some gender swaps and a different take, but also lot of open questions. We never really get know the real Lax. Sure he is bisexual , but is he also like a free bird who just loves people (which is what I felt), but if t hat is so, then why would he propose to Genevieve? I can understand why Adrian would back out from the trip relationship given him and Genevieve were good friends but how things eventually unfold make it slightly unbelievable. On a positive nite, all three actors were good looking , especially Max. He played the role of a husky seducer quite nicely, playing with his body, his eyes and his smile; which were all essential to the story. But besides that, the film had little to hold anyone's attention. It snot bad but not good either. (5/10)
Comments