Stop! That! Train! Is a Deeply Unserious Movie — And It Knows It

RuPaul Charles has fundamentally changed the world of drag. That much is undeniable. The world’s most famous drag queen built an empire around self-love and self-expression, transforming this once-niche art form into a global industry in the process. That’s the good part. The bad part is, of course, the fracking, which eroded the LGBTQIA+ community’s trust in RuPaul to the extent that a lot of people were ready to believe a recent social-media rumor that Stop! That Train!, the “first movie set within the RuPaul’s Drag Race universe,” used generative AI as part of its process.

The film’s director, Adam Shankman, denies the allegations, and much of the confusion seems to have come from the fact that one of the companies involved with the film, Acme AI & VFX, has “AI” in its name. Even after seeing the movie, however, it’s difficult to say with certainty how some of its interstitial bits — specifically, a series of shots of the titular train speeding through various digital landscapes — were accomplished. One likely explanation is this: Those shots were, in fact, made by human artists working with a minimal budget on a tight turnaround. That’s why they look like crap.

This is consistent with the Drag Race brand, which — while it’s no longer held together with Scotch tape, as it was in early seasons of the show — embraces garishness and stupidity with the same gleeful irony with which gay culture has always appreciated such things. (There’s a reason everyone remembers the bad outfits from the show more vividly than they do the good ones.) Queer people invented camp, and unsurprisingly, Stop! That! Train! is playing in that particular sandbox. What’s more interesting is how seamlessly Drag Race’s signature sense of humor merges with another type of comedy, one that’s nearly extinct in 21st-century popular culture.

In short, Stop! That! Train! is basically a Zucker/Abrahams spoof with drag queens in the leading roles. There are bits in this movie that have only been slightly modified from similar gags in Airplane!, and although it’s working from a different set of pop-cultural touchstones — think a Lisa Rinna cameo and digs at Lea Michelle’s alleged illiteracy — the setup/punchline structure is almost exactly the same as in a Naked Gun movie.

Here’s an example: Midway through the movie, it’s starting to become obvious that the passengers and crew aboard the Glamazonian Express are in deep trouble, as they barrel towards an apocalyptic “Stormaganza” big enough to destroy a dozen luxury trains of its size. (Stop! That! Train! takes place in a world where commercial rail is the primary mode of transportation in the U.S., a notion more fantastical than the film’s female POTUS, President Judy Gagwell — played by RuPaul, of course.) Donna Dusk (Rachel Bloom), the only competent employee at the film’s rail-travel safety commission, tells the conductor not to panic. Just look at your control monitor, she says. Cut to the monitor, which flashes one word: PANIC.

These cutaways are ubiquitous throughout the movie — Conductors We’d Like to See the Dick Of magazine is one recurring highlight — supported by silly puns, cheeky editing, and exaggerated slapstick pratfalls from game supporting players like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicole Richie, June Diane Raphael, Joel McHale, and comedian Guy Branum, who takes on the absurd role of a heterosexual horndog. Everyone seems to be having a good time — especially Las Culturistas’ Matt Rogers, who can’t help but grin even in his more serious scenes as President Gagwell’s loyal assistant. All the best jokes are shamelessly repeated later on in the movie, and the cast all bring their dizziest, bitchiest, and most ridiculous selves to the screen.

These include Drag Race in-jokes, the biggest of which is that it’s taken 18 seasons to find a sufficient number of drag performers who are also good enough actors to fill out the cast of a feature film. (Fans of your various World of Wonder properties will also be prepared for how corny the lyrics to the original songs can be, although “bring your drugs, it’s time to play / ‘cause there ain’t no TSA” is a pretty good line.)

Leads Jujubee and Ginger Minj, who co-star as bushy-tailed strivers DeeDee and Tess, are up to the task, bringing a relatively grounded and realistic range of emotions to their respective roles. They’re paired with similarly capable Drag Race alums Marcia Marcia Marcia, Brooke Lynn Heights, and Symoné as the cliquey popular girls from first class — roles all of them could do in their sleep — along with fan favorite Latrice Royale as Barbra, a girl who’s had more jobs than Detox’s face.

If you get that reference, then there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Stop! That! Train!, which is very much designed as the kind of movie you go see with your girlfriends after an unlimited mimosa brunch. Takes proclaiming that LGBTQIA+ people have to see it to support the community (or vice versa) are, frankly, approaching this movie with far more seriousness than which it views itself. Maybe if RuPaul uses it as a platform from which to launch a train company, we can all be cynical about it.

From Bleecker Street and World of Wonder, Stop! That! Train! opens in theaters on June 12.