REVIEW: STOP! THAT! TRAIN!

THE GIST

Stop! That! Train! isn’t a laugh-a-minute comedy, but strangely, that might be why its biggest laughs work so well.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Its particular brand of camp, over-the-top silliness wasn't always completely my thing, yet just when I thought the film might be losing me, it would pull out some gloriously stupid spoof gag and have me laughing my arse off. Sometimes less really is more.

Tess and DeeDee work for the wonderfully named Stank Rail when an opportunity arises to leave their current lives behind and work for Glamazonia. From there, things get increasingly ridiculous. There are trains. There is camp. There are cameos. There is an assortment of characters who appear to have wandered in from several completely different comedies. And Jeff from Community turns up. What more do you want?

There are two credited writers behind Stop! That! Train!, and I can't help imagining the whole thing started with a misunderstanding.

One of them says:

“We should make a comedy about trains.”

The other hears:

“We should make a comedy about trans.”

They both disappear, write completely different scripts, come back, realise what has happened and decide:

Fuck it. Let's combine them.

Honestly, having watched the film, I'm not entirely convinced that isn't what happened.

There is a deliberately camp, exaggerated silliness running through the whole thing. At various points I was reminded of Rat Race. Other moments gave me shades of Austin Powers. Then every now and again it suddenly turns into an old-school spoof movie. It was those moments that really won me over. Because there were definitely stretches where I found myself thinking: “This is good... but maybe it's just not for me.” Nek minnit, I'm laughing my arse off. And usually it was one of the spoof sequences that did it.

What Stop! That! Train! gets surprisingly right is something a lot of modern spoof comedy seems to have forgotten: you don't need to be making a joke every five seconds. I've always loved old-school spoof comedy, but one of my problems with many newer attempts is that they go absolutely berserk with it. One gag. Another gag. Another reference. Another gag. Someone walks through a wall. Something explodes. Another reference.Eventually you stop laughing because you've been trained to expect the joke. The humour becomes background noise. Stop! That! Train! doesn't really operate like that. For the most part, it is simply an extremely silly comedy. Then, without much warning, it suddenly launches into full spoof mode. Because those moments aren't constantly happening, I wasn't prepared for them. And that made them considerably funnier.

That distinction ended up becoming the most interesting thing about the film for me. It isn't really a spoof movie, despite occasionally behaving exactly like one. Instead, it dips into that style whenever it feels like it, gets the laugh and moves on before the joke wears out its welcome.

There is also something quite charming about how proudly specific the whole thing is.

Obviously trains are a major part of its identity, while there is a strong LGBTQ+ presence running through the characters and humour. I initially found myself wondering whether members of the main cast were trans actors, but rather than making assumptions about anyone's identity, what mattered more to me was how naturally that representation exists within the world of the film. It isn't treated like some grand announcement. It's simply part of what Stop! That! Train! is.

I think most people who enjoy ridiculous comedy could get something out of it, but if you're a train enthusiast, part of the LGBTQ+ community, or somehow happen to sit perfectly in the middle of that Venn diagram, I suspect this movie was genetically engineered specifically for you.

The parade of recognisable B-list actors popping up throughout only adds to the strange anything-goes atmosphere. Half the fun becomes wondering who is going to appear next and what ridiculous character they're going to be playing.

Not every joke landed for me. The campier side of the comedy occasionally left me feeling like I was watching something I could appreciate more than personally connect with, and I don't think the film is consistently hilarious enough to rank alongside the best examples of the style it occasionally imitates. But then it would catch me again. A joke I wasn't expecting. A ridiculous visual gag. A sudden burst of spoof humour. And there I was laughing again. That's ultimately what won me over.

Stop! That! Train! understands that comedy doesn't always need to scream THIS IS THE FUNNY BIT at you.

Sometimes the funniest thing a comedy can do is let you get comfortable...

and then hit you with something completely fucking stupid.