Final Rating: 4/5
Two best friends get jobs as railway hostesses on a runaway train in director Adam Shankman’s fast-paced disaster spoof Stop! That! Train! Produced by RuPaul Charles, the film serves as something of a spinoff of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The highest-billed cast are all Drag Race alumni, and fans of the series will notice plenty of references. Viewers unfamiliar with the show aren’t likely to be left behind, though: Train also serves as a brilliant homage to classic parody films such as Airplane! or the works of Mel Brooks.
Working from a script by Christina Friel and Connor Wright, Shankman packs every minute full of jokes, most of which land. Like a Mel Brooks movie, the jokes are so fast paced that when one misses, the film has already moved to the next.
The plot of Train is mostly a vehicle to get from one joke to the next, compounding events to the point of absurdity. What begins as a story about people stuck on a train without brakes spirals into a catastrophic event involving a larger-than-life country-wide dispatch bureau called United States Train HQ, a mythical event called the “Stormaganza,” and a Reagan-era experimental military division called “Rail Force.” The escalation works well, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats while never letting up on laughs.
Drag queens Ginger Minj and Jujubee lead as Tess and DeeDee, two recently laid off employees of budget train line Stank Rail and rehired by the luxurious Galamazonian High Speed Rail. Joining them are Brooke Lynn Hytes, Latrice Royale, and Marcia Marcia Marcia (credited as Marty Lauter) as established hostesses. Charles appears in a featured role as US President Judy Gagwell.
The core cast have excellent chemistry, especially the trio of Hytes, Royale, and Lauter. The three play a group of stereotypical mean girls, getting scathingly sassy quips directed at Tess and DeeDee. They also have several show-stealing musical numbers.
Charles, the highest-profile star of the film, works well in what is initially a smaller role. Gagwell is portrayed as something of a troll, regularly using the power of the presidency to add weight to jokes about “nuking Russia,” or comparing her popularity to Lea Michele. In scenes at the White House, Charles is joined by Matt Rogers as the press secretary, who consistently matches the president’s energy and elevates nearly every joke. Later in the film, Gagwell leaves the White House to get directly involved in the train disaster but ends up feeling out of place without Rogers’ support.
Like the classic parodies it emulates, Train fills its supporting cast with funny people in bit parts. Chris Parnell plays a straight-laced train conductor who uses the PA system to talk about his comedically exaggerated history with drugs. Brian Jordan Alvarez plays his himbo co-conductor. Missi Pyle appears as a recent divorcee trying to get laid before the train reaches its destination. Sarah Michelle Geller stars as herself, in a recurring gag where she falsely believes she’s been recognized by a fan, ultimately being credited as “Famous Actress” in the final credits.
Train is an impressive homage to Airplane! and other classic comedies while standing gloriously on its own. Comedically, the film is firing on all cylinders for most of its runtime, only starting to run out of steam just before the credits roll.
Thank you to Mongrel Media for the screener.
