It wouldn’t be a bad thing if this was the last piece of Drag Race media you ever see.
In RuPaul’s last major film role, 2007’s Starrbooty, she played an international spy who goes undercover as a sex worker. Starrbooty, which hybridises the John Waters comedy, blaxploitation thriller, martial arts epic and a gay porno, is technically lost media for good reason. In it, RuPaul satisfies an Irish priest with a fart fetish, has graphic onscreen sex, and the finale hinges on what can only be described as drag FGM. Given the comprehensive Oprah-ification of RuPaul in the past two decades, Stop! That! Train! – her disaster movie spoof and return to the big screen – wasn’t exactly going to push the envelope like Starrbooty. But it’s a crying shame that the result is so thoroughly vanilla.
Hailing from the studio behind RuPaul’s Drag Race and featuring an ensemble cast of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! feels like a victory lap for RuPaul and the global franchise she has built. It arrives at the station a little late, given that modern drag culture peaked pre-Covid and Drag Race has exhausted much of its cultural capital, but a brassy, funny all-drag comedy in 2026 is not an unwelcome prospect. After watching Stop! That! Train! twice, you get the sense that it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if it was the last piece of Drag Race media you ever see; there’s nowhere higher for this franchise to go.
It’s a shame, then, that Stop! That! Train! isn’t the instant camp classic you would hope for. The ingredients are there for a gay old time. Directed by Hairspray’s Adam Shankman, it stars Drag Race heavyweights Ginger Minj and Jujubee as Tess and DeeDee, two lowly stewardesses who sneak aboard the glitzy Glamazonian Express on the same day the train hurtles towards a deadly ‘Stormaganza’. Yes, that is the material we are working with here, but with an arsenal of killer jokes, Stop! That! Train! could be a delight. There are a couple of zingers here and there – there’s an inspired Lea Michele gag, and a great recurring bit with the legendary Latrice Royale – but Stop! That! Train! struggles to sustain itself over 90 minutes.
As good as its leads are (with Jujubee, the closest Drag Race has to a Princess Diana, stealing the show), there’s not much meat on the bone here. It relies too heavily on cameos, from celebrities like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, because it clearly doesn’t trust its drag stars to carry the whole effort. Drag is a wonderful, absurdist artform and Stop! That! Train! is simply too by-the-book for the sheer level of crossdressing talent involved. When RuPaul, playing this universe’s POTUS, turns up in the third act, Stop! That! Train! gets a palpable injection of energy and you realise that everyone involved is far funnier than Christina Friel and Connor Wright’s tepid script.
Thanks to the queens, Stop! That! Train! is an amiable watch, but it’s marred by some egregious creative decisions. The blatant and controversial use of AI to flesh out exterior shots of the train is tough to forgive, as is the pointed casting of Brian Jordan Alvarez, an actor who had several sexual assault allegations levelled against him before production began. Alvarez plays a prominent role as DeeDee’s love interest and his inclusion sours an otherwise silly time at the movies. Turn your brain off and you may find Stop! That! Train! passable enough but it’s hard to shake the feeling that RuPaul and her dynasty of queens deserved a sharper, sturdier vehicle than this.
0 Comments