Stuber review

STUBER:

A PASSABLY FUNNY RIDE BUT NOT QUITE WORTHY OF A 5-STAR RATING!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani in Stuber

            An Uber driver gets more than he expected after picking up a cop hot on the trail of a killer in Stuber, the new buddy action-comedy directed by Michael Dowse (FUBAR 1 and 2, Take Me Home Tonight, The F Word/What If?) and starring Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick, The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle) and Dave Bautista (The Man with the Iron Fists, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spectre). Despite an overabundance of buddy-cop action comedies released in the past I was excited for this movie the moment I first saw the trailer specifically because of the two leads.

            Kumail Nanjiani has already proven himself a great comedic actor after appearing on the TV series, Silicon Valley and recently gained widespread acclaim with his 2017 directorial debut, The Big Sick. However, Dave Bautista I feel needs no introduction, he’s Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy so we already know he can be really funny in movies.

            This was going to be like the male equivalent of The Heat…at least so I thought. I started to second-guess myself when the reviews came out which were mostly mixed but even after that I still wanted to see these two together in a movie. 

            Now that I went along for the ride, I can gladly say that Stuber is…an okay comedy, it’s not bad but it isn’t great either. Nanjiani and Bautista have strong comedic chemistry together and is the highlight of the movie, but the film never really takes full advantage of its premise which takes a backseat to stale cop movie clichés that just aren’t all that funny.

            The film follows mild-mannered Uber driver, Stu (Nanjiani) who lacks the courage to tell his friend and business partner Becca (Betty Gilpin-Ghost Town, True Story, Isn’t It Romantic?) that he has feelings for her and all he wants is a 5-star rating from his riders. Things start to spiral out of control when he picks up a grizzled LAPD detective named Vic Manning (Bautista) who is hot on the trail of a notorious drug lord known as Oka Teijo (Iko Uwais-Merantau, The Raid 1 and 2, Mile 22) and Stu gets roped into helping Vic take him out, turning a simple Uber ride into a wild goose chase with dogs, male strippers, and shootouts in a vet’s office until these unlikely partners bring Teijo to justice.

            The film also stars Natalie Morales (The Middleman, White Collar, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) as Nicole Manning, Jimmy Tatro (22 Jump Street, American Vandal, Super Troopers 2) as Richie Sandusky, Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Norma Jean & Marilyn) as Captain Angie McHenry, Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jumanji 2 and 3) as Sarah Morris, Steve Howey (Reba, Shameless, Unleashed (2017)) as Felix, Amin Joseph (The Gambler, Dope, Snowfall) as Leon, and Scott Lawrence (Timecop, JAG, Star Trek Into Darkness) as Dr. Branch.

            Overall, Stuber has its moments and Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista are perfectly cast for a buddy-cop comedy, unfortunately they’re talents and hilarious-sounding premise are wasted by a script that doesn’t give them much to work with and an overabundance of generic cop movie clichés. 

            Had this movie gone more for a 21 Jump Street or Hot Fuzz style spoof of these types of movies and tropes then maybe they could have worked but it doesn’t really mock these clichés but rather lazily throw them in as plot points we can see coming a mile away. On the bright side it isn’t a comedy that didn’t make me laugh, there were some genuinely funny bits in this film.

            As previously mentioned the partnership between Nanjiani and Bautista is hilarious in general, but also some of the over-the-top action sequences, homages/callbacks to action movie gags such as throwing the end of a gun at somebody’s head and shooting propane tanks, and a lot of the banter between both characters got a laugh out of me.

            However, there are some jokes that take a huge dive or go on too long to the point where it isn’t funny. There is a fight in a sporting goods store that has some humorous bits sprinkled in but a lot of the gags and one-liners during this sequence feel incredibly forced and drawn-out that it only got a handful of chuckles as I was watching the movie, if it was trimmed down and the physical humor had better timing this could have been very funny, but not quite.

            Luckily the charm of its leads prevents Stuber from crashing into a brick wall and is worth watching at least for that reason alone. Hopefully, Nanjiani and Bautista will collaborate again in some future projects that can take advantage of their concepts and make a thoroughly hysterical, fun movie, you can see one of these trying to get out, but it’s stuck in-between the tiresome buddy-cop clichés.

            Stuber is a harmless action-comedy that has a few laughs and exciting action sequences with two outrageous leads in the front seats. But this Uberride goes up a strange road of predictable movie tropes and some very forced humor, it isn’t a one-star ride but far from being a five-star.