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...
We have a simple family of husband, wife, a son and a daughter. The family is reeling debts, the husband is lazy, daughter is a wanna be actress and the son is just aggressive good for nothing mechanic. The mom has had enough of it. There’s money available for any family that signs up for and completes a state LGBT+ awareness training course, and it’s quite a considerable sum, too. The way it works is that a course representative who is gay will come and live with the family for three weeks, during which time he will conduct a number of LGBT+ awareness sessions. As you expect the family completely refuses but the mother will have none of it and enter Vasyl, the man from the course, turns up at the door, very smart and personable and friendly. Through various sessions over next many days, a lot of sessions happen where the family members get to talk to each pother freely, Of course they all come with their own drama but a few comic sequences as well. Slowly they all start to warm upto him, including the son who is likely the epitome of homophobia. What would be a LGBTQ friendly film where you dont see a kiss, so we see a kiss between Vasyl and the son one night when the son confides that he doesn't understand why he has so much aggression. The film just goes on like this, with the 4 members learning a thing or two about not just tolerance but about each other as family members.
I liked the fact that we get see the perspective of each members, and where do their insecurities come from, and to an extent all of them have a fair point. But if you think this all sounds dull, think once again. There are many genuinely funny laughs here, arising quite believably out of situation and character. Not the over the top loud comedy but genuinely funny moments. Scenes where Vasyl is massaging mother, or teaching massage to father, or when the father fails to understand the gender bias are genuinely funny but also thought provoking. There are a lot of people out there with sexual hang-ups of one sort or another, whether LGBT+ or not, and the film has much to say to all of them. The whole film is set in a tiny apartment with these 5 people and they all have an amazing chemistry with each other. The film is made in such simple language, scenes and structure that any par t of the society can easily understand, without resorting to any complicated deep messages. I am not sure of folks in Ukraine got to see this film, but IMO this film definitely deserves a chance for showing something different. By no means, it addresses any of the topics or you should magically expect the family to completely turn around, but it starts a discussion and the openness of the family members to be willing to have that discussion is a good start. (6/10)
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