The tale of two heroic stewardesses who team up with RuPaul Charles, the President of the United States, to stop a train on a collision course with a once-a-century weather event, “Stop! That! Train!” is billed as a “true story” where every scene unfolds “exactly as it happened in real life.” Given such an extraordinary sequence of events, it seems difficult to believe that this singular chapter in recent American history isn’t better known by the moviegoing public. But that may be because it was only covered by the most elite of news platforms: World of Wonder, the streaming service that broadcasts “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” several of whose stars (surely just coincidentally) figure heavily into this film’s account.
Directed by Adam Shankman, this cheeky, charming feature-length project from the “Drag Race universe” may resonate most immediately with fans of the reality competition series, or at least those audiences who prefer to keep tongue firmly embedded in cosmetically beautified cheek. But appealing performances by Ginger Minj, Jujubee and RuPaul as the aforementioned Commander in Chief keep this action comedy disaster movie on the right track even when the train of the title threatens to fly off the rails.
Minj (“The Legacy of Cloud Falls”) and Jujubee (“AJ and the Queen”) play Tess and DeeDee, stewardesses for Stank Rail, a train company that has just gone out of business. After ten years of working alongside one another, the two wonder if their dream of seeing America (and “the four gay guys on the side of that mountain”) will ever be fulfilled. Opportunity strikes when two of their counterparts on the opulent Glamazonian Express fail to turn up for their shift and Tess and DeeDee hastily fabricate uniforms to join the ranks of its staff, maintained by the disapproving Amber (Brooke Lynn Hytes) and her snobby lieutenants Ali (Marty Lauter) and Ayshleiygh (Symone).
Tucking in for departure, DeeDee strikes up a flirtation with Cal (Brian Jordan Alvarez), Glamazonian’s hunky co-conductor, while Tess oversees the train’s A-list clientele. But shortly after lead conductor Davenport (Chris Parnell) discovers that the Express’ brakes are faulty, traffic controller Donna Dusk (Rachel Bloom) discovers a “stormaganza” that’s set to break directly in their path. Even though Donna’s pleas are ignored by her superior (Guy Branum), news coverage of the impending disaster prompts President Judy Gagwell (Charles) to get involved in a rescue effort, though the Head of State is paralyzed by PTSD from a long-buried incident that occurred when she was part of the U.S. Rail Force.
With no other support available, DeeDee and Tess are forced to step in to try and stop the train before its passengers are killed. But even if the duo can win the respect of Cal, Amber and their fellow stewardesses to let them take charge, each is forced to confront the insecurities that have not only held them back from greater success, but challenged their longtime friendship.
Working from a script by Christina Friel and Connor Wright, “Stop! That! Train!” assembles a pastiche of coming-of-age and disaster movie cliches — one elaborate enough that no one should accuse the film of an ounce of originality, but so brisk and self-aware that there’s never time to mind. Tess and DeeDee are both button-cute characters, and Minj’s cornpone enthusiasm balances sweetly with Jujubee’s naïvete. Introducing characters like Cal as “the cover model for Conductors Whose Dick We Want To See magazine” (complete with a cutaway to the latest issue), the script laces their wholesome ambitions — Tess’ career, DeeDee’s romance — less with drag queen snark than winking entendre. It’s a winning combination that keeps audiences chasing the characters’ alternate meanings and scalpel-precise references; after Gagwell gets blamed for the imminent disaster, her approval ratings dip to “Lea Michele in 2020” levels.
Much mileage is gained out of using boilerplate thriller dialogue like “give it to me straight” and “can you read me” within an LGBTQ+ context (in the latter case, repeatedly dressing Donna down for her frumpy appearance), and it works precisely because it’s on the edge of groan-inducing obviousness. The wordplay between Tess and DeeDee won’t dislodge any screwball-comedy legends from their place in the Hollywood firmament, but the jokes fly so fast and furious from the ensemble — from the principals to single-scene guest stars — that it feels like something for everyone is injected into each scene. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s running gag as the celebrity everyone’s too self-absorbed to recognize, for example, exemplifies the film’s willingness to hold nothing sacred, with the actors invited to follow suit.
As much as terms like “stormaganza” elicit comparisons to the cinematic era of “Birdemic” and “Sharknado,” the cast of dozens more directly evokes the Irwin Allen disaster movies of the 1970s, and each supporting performer delivers their lines with real gusto — even when, as with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Natasha Leggero, their role literally demands they phone it in. Shankman, despite his multi-hyphenate pedigree behind the camera, has always maintained a workmanlike proficiency, and here he puts on a show, even if he’s not quite the production’s proper ringleader. That would be RuPaul, whose onscreen disposition embodies Judy Gagwell’s campaign slogan (“She fun!”), and who sets the tone for the production by vacillating between scene-stealing swagger and comically overwrought melodrama.
More than their civilian counterparts, viewers familiar with “Drag Race,” its superstars and its lore will likely get much out of watching the cast trade on or tweak the personae for which they’re known on stage. But notwithstanding its queer-friendly lexicon (much of which has infiltrated social media anyway), Shankman’s film is an easily accessible, unexpectedly ingratiating experience. Giving the kind of burlesque realness that a spoof like “Scary Movie” could only aspire to, “Stop! That! Train!” strikes a skillful balance between serving its designated audience and inviting a much broader one along for the ride.
