A detective recruits his Uber driver into an unexpected night of adventure.
“Stuber” was one of the films I missed at South by Southwest back in March. Ever since then I have been itching to watch the film. Checking on reviews, I was surprised to see the film was getting mixed reviews. As far as I knew, Dave Bautista playing a tough guy and Kumail Nanjiani playing a timid stranger being opposite to him sounded like a recipe for entertainment. After watching the film, I can very much see where the disconnect lies with critics.
“Stuber” tells the story of Stu, a down-on-his-luck Uber driver, who has a run-in with out-of-touch police officer Vic (Bautista), who gets him tangled up in his tail of a high profile criminal. While you get Nanjiani as a star, I would not let his being a comedian overshadow the film. Relating that to “Stuber,” the whole movie feels like the laughs and gags move the film instead of having a strong narrative. The film feels like it moves from place to place to get to the next joke and the story is connected through a thin thread. The reason why Stu keeps up with Vic’s plan is to get a five-star rating from him. As the film goes along, and the scenarios the two are involved in get more ridiculous, it becomes less believable for Stu to stick around and risk his life. For me, the comedy was a lot more hit than miss. I can tell director Michael Dowse let Nanjiani improv a lot of his jokes because many of the jokes don’t really pertain to the plot and are pop culture references. There are some jokes that did get me but most really fell flat.
The action in “Stuber” is great and the fight scenes are well-choreographed. When you get a talent like Iko Uwais (of “The Raid” franchise) you have to squeeze out all you can and they did as much with him. I did like how the cinematography went more handheld and more rogue and felt the rawest of the film. I will say the movie is a bit gory sometimes but is sprinkled throughout the film and is not necessarily consistent. The movie does try to implement some twists and turns but most of them feel forced and only feel like they are there for the sake of having a twist.
I will say “Stuber” is fun and a good time at the theater. Nanjiani and Bautista don’t really impress and their story and jokes surrounding them don’t impress either. If you are not really looking forward to this film, you should wait for the Blu-ray.
Now available on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD
