Given the grip it exerts on the drag world in the US and beyond, it is almost quaint to recall the humble beginnings of RuPaul's Drag Race, which debuted in 2009 with cheap plywood sets, a lounge sponsored by Absolut Vodka, and special guests including Michelle Williams (the less famous one). Now, it is a high-gloss spectacle that has won 14 Emmy awards, credited with bringing pageant-style drag fully into the mainstream and attracting star guest judges like Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga.
A Fading Empire or a Thriving Cottage Industry?
There is a sense that latter-day Drag Race is running on fumes, with 29 seasons including All Stars spinoffs and finale viewing figures that peaked in 2016. But the cottage industry that has grown up around it has never been bigger: former contestants like Trixie Mattel and Katya host a wildly popular podcast, while Bob the Drag Queen toured with Madonna and Jinkx Monsoon is the toast of Broadway with roles in Oh, Mary! and Chicago. Meanwhile, the show's production company World of Wonder cannily keeps access to Drag Race's 14 current international spin-offs exclusive to their own streaming platform, Wow Presents Plus.
Stop! That! Train! Saves Drag from Straight-to-Streaming Fate
Praise be to the drag gods (or, more accurately, World of Wonder founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato) for saving Stop! That! Train! from the straight-to-streaming kiss of death. Directed by Adam Shankman (2007's Hairspray, The Wedding Planner), it is a 90-minute madcap riot that deserves a spot in drag comedy herstory alongside White Chicks and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, stuffed full of mostly welcome celebrity cameos and sharp innuendoes, with every frame chock-full of a 30 Rock episode's worth of visual gags.
Plot: From Stank Rail to Glamazonian Express
When gal pals Tess (Ginger Minj) and DeeDee (Jujubee) are laid off from their jobs at the budget train line Stank Rail, they follow their dreams of being high-end trolley dollies on the ultra-luxe Glamazonian Express, a sleek rail service on its way to Celebration, Florida. (The film's conceit that the US has a functional rail network is nearly as fanciful as the idea that it would be run by drag queens.) There, they must face the other bitchy attendants (Brooke Lynn Hytes, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Symone) and win over a motley crew of passengers including a deluded famous actor (Sarah Michelle Gellar), an uptight businessman (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), and a horny drunk who keeps losing martini olives in her cleavage (a scene-stealing Missi Pyle).
When the train's brakes inconveniently fail just as a super-tornado named Stormaganza looms, the plucky friends must find a way to stop that train. It is a national emergency, quickly escalated all the way to the White House. There, President Judy Gagwell (RuPaul Charles) is enjoying the comforts of life as commander-in-chief, having run on a platform of being a good time (campaign slogan: She Fun). She is the type to impulsively issue tax rebates if she is in an Oprah mood, and to tease her fawning aide (Matt Rogers) by pretending to accidentally trigger nuclear missile strikes. Like the current US president and indeed the fracking aficionado who plays her, Gagwell is not exactly a model of morality, ejecting a journalist (Michelle Visage) from a press conference for questions she is not in the mood to answer: in Visage's case, asking whether bats nest in her beehive.
Humor: Bawdy and Brilliant
The humor in the film can be bawdy, with visual gags including Trojans and a rabbit vibrator on the bar cart, as well as a fantasy sequence involving DeeDee going to town on sexy train conductor Cal's chimney. But some of the most winning jokes could have come from an I Love Lucy episode, in a testament to the film's sharp writing – it takes a lot more skill to get belly laughs with G-rated language than with dick jokes. When one young passenger arrives aboard the Glamazonian Express, the hostess directs him to his seat next to the beautiful redhead, as the camera pans to a Raggedy Ann-style doll. Utterly stupid and a total joy.
Performances: Queens Shine in Film Debuts
The queens, mostly making their film debuts, prove themselves born performers. A highlight is Jujubee as Tess, who can dovetail between slapstick gags and more touching moments as she feels neglected after her friend is adopted by the popular girls. I also loved Latrice Royale as Barbra, who pops up in a recurring bit as a train hostess, office worker, bartender, and valet. The true grande dame is RuPaul, though, who proved his acting chops in howl-inducing cameos in Broad City and The Comeback, but tears into the Judy Gagwell character with relish. In one uproarious scene – already clipped online – Gagwell walks laps of the Oval Office as assistants pile increasingly absurd items into her arms: top-secret dossiers marked Top Secret, Bottom Secret, and Soft Verse Secret followed by a Yahtzee set, a ukulele, and an oversized bowling pin. I would pay good money to see him helm a Pride Month movie every year.
Minor Flaws in an Otherwise Delightful Ride
You can forgive the film starting to feel a little rote in its final third, where the cast have to come together to actually resolve the issue of the runaway train and the writers lean a little too heavily on Drag Race in jokes. It is brilliantly out of the blue when Tess removes her pillbox hat to reveal a shower of rose petals a la Sasha Velour, less so when Gagwell makes a clangingly obvious joke about reading being fundamental.
Final Verdict: A Winner for the Drag Community
Ladykins, Stop! That! Train! is a winner. Perhaps that is unsurprising seeing as many recent Drag Race challenges have felt like mini movie sets themselves, with elaborate scripts and costumes. And while recent gay movies like Pillion and Blue Film have focused on uncomfortable home truths about queer life, Stop! That! Train! offers refreshingly rosy escapism. See it with as rowdy – and gay – an audience as possible.
Stop! That! Train! is out in the US on 12 June with UK and Australia release dates to follow.
