Stop! That! Train! review: RuPaul takes us aboard the campest film of the year
Stop! That! Train! is exactly the type of movie that’s best paired with several bottles of Kylie Rosé whilst surrounded by your best Judys
Choo-choo bitches! The gay cinematic event of 2026 is finally pulling into the station. Some movie reviews require deep critical thinking and studious analysis. And then, there are movies like Adam Shankman’s disaster-spoof Stop! That! Train!, which are so simple, stupid and self-assured, that I could summarise this entire movie just by quoting President Judy Gagwell’s (RuPaul Charles) campaign slogan, which got her elected to office: “She Fun!”.
Call it lowbrow. Call it idiotic. Call it a Drag Race Maxi challenge with slightly more budget if you’re fancy. But unapologetically silly movies like Stop! That! Train! are making a welcomed comeback. With the success of the recent Naked Gun and Scary Movie reboots, it’s evident there is an appetite for ridiculous comedies. Silliness is officially back en vogue. So either hop on this runaway train, or get off the tracks.
Stop! That! Train! marks the first major cinematic release from World of Wonder, who are best known for producing hit television series RuPaul’s Drag Race. With their maiden madcap feature, WoW has populated this train predominantly with former Drag Race contestants in central roles alongside Mother Ru. You’d better fasten your seatbelts because this absurd B-movie is 95 minutes of drag-tastic, off-the-rails chaos. Complete with fabulous musical numbers, tacky jokes, and a gag-worthy end credits gag reel. Tickets, please!
The Glamazonian Express is doomed to crash at its final stop in Florida. GASP!
The story follows dowdy best friends Tess (Ginger Minj) and DeeDee (Jujubee) who have been inseparable ever since graduating from the Train Hostess Academy, and have worked together as stewardesses for Stank Rail for over a decade. They’ve shared big dreams of romance, adventure and seeing all that America has to offer. Like “the four gay guys on Mount Rushmore and both the Dakotas; Fanning and Johnson”. However, when they suddenly find themselves jobless, they manage to bluff their way onboard as the new trolley-dollys of America’s first bullet train, the Glamazonian Express.
Once onboard, they encounter a trio of hostile hostesses; Amber (Brooke Lynn Heights), Ashyleiygh (Symone) and Allie (Marcia Marcia Marcia), who are serving Glee’s Unholy Trinity in their dazzling ruby garments. The territorial vixens can sense that these frumpy newbies don’t belong in first class and banish them to the unflattering furnishings of Coach, where they supposedly belong with the poor passengers. But getting their cover blown by the catty Glamazonians is the least of Tess and DeeDee’s concerns.
Not long after depature, a series of comical mishaps involving a rogue scorpion, a lightning strike and an incapacitated conductor (Chris Parnell), put the train directly on course with a deadly “Stormaganza” and is doomed to crash at its final stop in Florida. GASP!
President Gagwell (RuPaul) steps in and declares a national emergency
Fearing this catastrophe will nosedive her approval ratings lower than “Lea Michelle in 2020”, President Gagwell (RuPaul) steps in and declares a national emergency. It is up to her, a resilient traffic controller named Donna Dusk (Rachel Bloom), and the ragtag queens aboard, to figure out a way to, you know, stop that train, as it very much were.
Inspired by the zany comedy stylings of Airplane!, Shankman delights in stuffing every moment of this film with crude innuendo humour, dumb sight gags and countless B-List celebrity cameos. From Sarah Michelle Gellar (this film’s punching bag), to a reliably disgruntled Jesse Tyler Fergsuon, to a cocktail-guzzling divorcee played by Missi Pyle, the carriages are packed to the rafters with beloved queer icons (and hons), who are up for an easy-breezy paycheque.
Shankman has done an excellent job of ensuring everyone is on the same tonal frequency. The melodramatic dialogue by screenwriters Christina Friel and Connor Wright is delivered with just the right amount of soapy self-awareness by the entire cast. The standout being RuPaul himself as the sassy commander-in-chief, who is acting for the back row with his hilariously animated facial expressions.
Stop! That! Train! is best paired with several bottles of Kylie Rosé whilst surrounded by your best Judys
Everyone here understood the assignment and was clearly relishing every moment spent on the gaudy Baroque-styled set designed by Alessandro Marvelli. With the Glamazonian Express, he manages to find a perfect balance of making the train look simultaneously expensive and gauche. And that’s part of the film’s charm: its DIY, low-budget aesthetics. It may be cheap, but it’s certainly cheerful too. Plus this is genuinely one of the few occasions where a film actually benefits from noticeably poor CGI, because it only ramps up the camp value.
Granted, the RuPaul-brand of unashamedly crass comedy won’t be to everyone’s taste. If you’re someone who tends to skip over the acting challenge episodes of Drag Race, then this probably isn’t for you.
The comparisons to Airplane! are warranted, but admittedly, the jokes are in no way as consistently sharp or rapid-fire as its inspiration. There are plenty of punchlines that fall as flat as Marcia Marcia Marcia’s caboose.
But Stop! That! Train! is exactly the type of outrageously daft movie that’s best paired with several bottles of Kylie Rosé whilst surrounded by your best Judys. It’s not winning any Oscars, but it knows exactly what it is and who it’s intended for. It puts the “loco” in locomotive disaster movie and is a perfect summer watch for the Gays, Girlies and the Theys. All aboard.
Stop! That! Train! is available to watch in UK and Ireland cinemas from 21st August 2026.