A Mess That Knows It

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MOVIE REVIEWS
Stop! That! Train!
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Genre: Action, Comedy
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Adam Shankman
Writers: Christina Friel, Connor Wright
Cast: Ginger Minj, Jujubee, RuPaul, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Symone, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Latrice Royale, Rachel Bloom, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Chris Parnell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Joel McHale
Where to Watch: available September 15, 2026; pre-order your copy here: www.moviesunlimited.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: There’s no point in going into STOP! THAT! TRAIN! And thinking you’re going to ask it to calm down. Adam Shankman’s disaster comedy feels as though somebody locked the volume at eleven, cut the brake lines, and then dared the cast to see who could deliver the most ridiculous joke without blinking. That approach gives you some genuinely funny stretches, plenty of groaners, and a movie that is probably much easier to enjoy once you accept that restraint was never invited aboard.

Ginger Minj and Jujubee understood that assignment better than anyone. As Tess and DeeDee, they’re surrounded by characters who could have easily reduced the movie to 90 minutes of people fighting for the next punchline, but their friendship gives the chaos enough structure to keep things moving. They give the absurd situations enough sincerity for the comedy to have something to push against. That keeps the movie from becoming detached from any semblance of a story.

The setup eventually sends the pair from the decidedly less glamorous Stank Rail to the Glamazonian Express, where the employment upgrade quickly becomes secondary to the small problem of a runaway train and an approaching disaster. STOP! THAT! TRAIN! has no interest in building suspense around whether everyone survives. The danger is simply an excuse to move its characters from one situation to another while parodying disaster movies, transportation thrillers, political comedy, workplace dynamics, celebrity culture, and anything else that wanders close enough to get hit. And somehow, for the most part, it works.

Writers Christina Friel and Connor Wright throw jokes at the screen with enough frequency that something is eventually going to stick, and some of them connected hard enough to get a real laugh out of me. Others barely register before another joke is already rushing in behind them, and there are stretches where STOP! THAT! TRAIN! feels less like a movie than a string of sketches using the same train set.

Comparisons to AIRPLANE! are unavoidable because the basic architecture is sitting right there, but STOP! THAT! TRAIN! doesn’t have the extraordinary precision that made that movie’s stupidity so effective. AIRPLANE! could put an obvious joke, a background gag, a verbal misunderstanding, and something absurd into the same scene without making any of them feel desperate for attention. Here, almost every joke wants you to know it’s arrived. That constant insistence occasionally makes the movie feel more exhausting than funny.

The cast helps enormously because everyone appears to understand exactly what kind of production they signed up for. Symone, Brooke Lynn Hytes, and Marcia Marcia Marcia get plenty of opportunities to turn attitude into comedy. At the same time, Latrice Royale makes an unmistakable impression without the movie having to stop to say something funny is happening. Chris Parnell is basically engineered for material in which a character has to treat nonsense as though civilization depends on it, and Brian Jordan Alvarez fits naturally into a movie that rewards exaggerated commitment.

RuPaul’s President Judy Gagwell could have consumed the entire thing, so there’s something unexpectedly intriguing about not making the character the actual lead. RuPaul gets to show up, make a joke, disappear, and return before everything wears itself out. The presidential stuff offers controlled exposure that makes it work better than it probably would have if another 20 minutes had been devoted to it.

Then there are the cameos, and STOP! THAT! TRAIN! treats famous faces almost like another category of joke. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Joel McHale, Jerry O’Connell, Nicole Sullivan, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Charo, Michelle Visage, and others keep appearing, sometimes for little more than the joy of seeing that face, you know. A few are genuinely funny, while others give the movie the feeling of continually elbowing you and asking whether you noticed who just walked into the scene.

That distinction also matters for anyone coming to this without much familiarity with RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE. There’s enough wide-ranging comedy here that knowledge of the series isn’t required, but there are references, personalities, and casting choices that clearly offer an extra layer to longtime viewers. STOP! THAT! TRAIN! mostly avoids making outsiders feel as though they’ve entered a private conversation, although certain stretches will undoubtedly play better for an audience already familiar with everyone involved.

The bright colors, costumes, detailed interiors, and deliberately heightened design match the tone wonderfully, because making any of this look realistic would probably undermine the joke. Some exterior effects are considerably rougher, and the confirmed use of AI tools by the film’s VFX team in a small number of moments is also something I can’t simply ignore. The filmmakers have been clear that traditional CGI and hundreds of VFX artists were responsible for the larger production, so I don’t want to overstate the extent of the technology’s involvement. Still, even limited use feels unnecessary in a movie whose greatest strength lies in watching people enthusiastically commit to making something ridiculous. I’m trying hard not to let AI become an automatic strike against a film, but I also don’t think I have to pretend I’m comfortable with its use when it’s there.

Shankman at least knows how to stage this kind of excess. His background in studio comedy and musicals proves useful whenever the cast has to occupy the same space without one performance crashing into another. Something is moving, almost constantly, but the better sequences have an actual shape rather than simply placing characters in front of a camera and expecting personality to do the rest.

Where STOP! THAT! TRAIN! loses me most often is in how hard it works to maintain the joke pacing. Comedy doesn’t necessarily become funnier because every second has been filled, and some of the strongest moments would breathe better if the movie trusted a reaction or an awkward pause before firing again. The screenplay rarely allows us that luxury, creating an odd experience in which a 90-minute comedy can feel longer simply because it refuses to stop for a breath.

I laughed enough that calling the movie a failure would be ridiculous, especially when so much of what appears onscreen is intentionally stupid. Ginger Minj and Jujubee are genuinely likable leads, the supporting cast commits completely, and something is refreshing about a comedy that isn’t embarrassed by its own silliness. The problem is that knowingly making a mess doesn’t automatically make every part of that mess funny, and STOP! THAT! TRAIN! occasionally uses its commitment to camp as permission to leave jokes sitting exactly where they landed.

Three stars feels like a fit for a movie that gave me enough laughs to stay aboard without ever convincing me that every stop was worthwhile. STOP! THAT! TRAIN! knows exactly what kind of comedy it wants to be, and there’s real fun in watching it charge forward without shame. I just wish somebody had applied the brakes to a few jokes, a handful of cameos, and some of the excess before the whole thing reached the station.

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