Stuber Review
R: For violence and language throughout, some sexual references and brief graphic nudity
Studio: 20th Century Fox, GoldDay Productions
Run Time: 1 hr and 33 minutes
Director: Michael Dowse | Screenwriter: Tripper Clancy
Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Jimmy Tatro, Mira Sorvino, Karen Gillan
A mild-mannered Uber driver named Stu picks up Vic, a grizzled detective who is hot on the trail of a sadistic, bloodthirsty terrorist. Stu soon finds himself thrust into a harrowing ordeal where he has to keep his wits, avoid danger, and work with his passenger while maintaining his high customer service rating.
Sometimes life has a way of telling you that some things are just not worth your time. Back in March when I went to SXSW, I saw a poster for a movie called Stuber starring Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista, which happened to premiere its “early cut” on March 13th, which was my 21st birthday. I got my express pass ticket. After a 3-day streak of watching nothing but really good movies (seriously, I don’t think I saw anything during SXSW that I gave below a 2.5 star rating, which I do regret for Pet Sematary) and not having a trailer to prelude this, I was pumped. But then some dumb shit happened. For anyone who hasn’t been to SXSW, I’ll explain the policy system that kind of screwed me over. All the big headline features that premiered were sent to this theater called the Paramount. It’s huge, beautiful, has ample seating, and the most anxiety-inducing setup. I’d been to that theater several times prior to Stuber’s premiere. I even ended up in the Reserved section once, sitting amongst the cast and crew of Teen Spirit. I kid you not.
But there was an enforced bag policy where you couldn’t carry a bag bigger than 14″ x 12″ x 6. Because I own a laptop slightly bigger than those measurements, which enlarged the bookbag that I travel with daily, I couldn’t really do anything about it. As fate would have it, the policy was never enforced until that night… THE NIGHT OF MY 21ST BIRTHDAY! So, as I was on a long ass line which went around the block, a security lady came up to me and told me that I couldn’t bring my bookbag in and that I had to hold it until I got into the theater. I was like, “Sure, whatever. I’ve been carrying my bag around this same venue and it hasn’t been enforced at all.” I did as she said and held it for the duration of the wait. But by the time I got inside my arms became weary. Since I was already in the theater, I figured I could wear my bag again. Seconds away from hitting the auditorium (and with one bag strap pulled on) the same security lady popped up behind me like a ninja and kicked me out of the theater. And to reiterate/quote Aly & Aj, “It was my birthday, my stupid birthday.” I was pissed off considering how selectively they enforced that rule, but I didn’t let that get me down because I got to immediately celebrate by going to bars LEGALLY (and getting free bday shots)!
So, after 3 months and however many days since I turned 21, I finally got to see STUBER and uhhh... yeah. This would’ve broken that good rating streak because this is not good.
Comedy is a very hard feat to achieve, especially when your film is in that genre, but if there was anything that kept me chuckling throughout Stuber, it was the titular character who’s name is actually Stu and is nicknamed “Stuber” by his meathead manager with whom he works in a department store. Kumail Nanjiani is a hysterical comic and having him headline a mainstream mid-budget action comedy is a great step forward for him. I’ve rooted for the comedic actor since I watched The Big Sick in 2017, in which he also portrayed a character whose occupation was an Uber driver. While Nanjiani is pretty much playing the straight man to the obscene and overtly masculine Bautista, his delivery often times cracked me up. Even when a joke doesn’t land, Nanjiani makes it work with his “over it” facial expression alongside a deadpanned delivery. Since his character is forced by this overly-problematic cop, who judges his life choices and enforces masculinity, you’re anticipating for his bubbling anger to rise to the surface and just lose it. The inevitable scene where he does just that is the only memorable thing about this movie. There’s a scene where the two brawl in the department store that Stu works in and it’s funny and satisfying considering how much you can’t stand Bautista’s character, Vic.
Last month I unleashed my first 0-star rating with Shaft which was a similar buddy-action/comedy that problematically glorified toxic masculinity with its overly-masculine lead character whose actions often went unpunished. The lead, Vic (Bautista), is a character who has that same archetype as Shaft as he enforces nothing but manly and aggressive behavior towards Stu. But what I really commend this film for doing is NOT glorifying it by addressing all the negatives about it through Stu’s mild personality who often calls him out on his bullshit. Vic is a deranged old-school beta male, but the environment of his daily life and the trouble he’s caused shows him as a tragic character you sympathize with.
As far as action-comedies go, I appreciate the effort in production for this where the direction balances both the action and comedy and does a decent job combining the two. The editing is full of awkward jump cuts and the cinematography is impressive. For a R-rated comedy that is just straight up “meh”, I’m thankful that it has the cinematic theatricality of a movie rather than something that looks like it should be on TV. That said, this is something that would’ve worked better on TV.
Listen Bautista, I love you and all, but when you say “I’d rather do good films” as a reason to decline a Fast and Furious role, it’s bound to backfire, especially when you’re promoting a movie that isn’t a “good film.” Stuber isn’t necessarily a bad film either, it’s just straight down-the-middle mediocre and forgettable.
You have this aimless and cynical Uber driver named Stu who works at a department store and is also an Uber driver as a side hustle. For some reason, he’s obsessed with getting a five-star rating with each customer to the extent that his license plate reads “5Stars.” Though his efforts often fail, for he picks up some of the most obnoxious riders who rate him low due to their judgemental behavior, which also lowers his own confidence, things change when a blind and aggressive cop gets in his car, kidnaps him, and has him ride along LA to solve a case.
While the film has its hysterical moments, the majority of the issues lie within the script. Stuber follows all of the bland and generic tropes that nearly every R-rated buddy comedy of recent falls into: characters vulgarly arguing with each other, the mild-mannered straight man screaming during action sequences, set pieces that go nowhere and aren’t taken advantage of, and a bombardment of supporting characters who are annoying. The film attempts to capture the same kind of absurdity and hilarity of films such as Beverly Hills Cop, even to the extent that this takes place in California, but the movie misses the two key ingredients that make buddy comedies work: chemistry and charm. Because the film lacks the two, the entire movie is just ultimately a waste. None of the characters are likable because they’re hypocrites, especially Vic who is one of those cops who breaks every law in the book and kills so many people just to catch one guy. And you don’t like Stu because he doesn’t have enough control to say “fuck off” to this guy and accompanies him on this case. Nobody in their right mind — no matter how mild-mannered — would be willing to stay with this cop.
The cast isn’t really used to their full comedic advantage aside from being somewhat typecast as their usual persona. Nanjiani has been the mild-mannered straight man so many times. Bautista has been the overly-macho, deranged dude so many times. Friggin’ Karen Gillan is in this and she dies in the first literal five minutes, and I timed it too because I missed the first five minutes of the movie to get concessions. I kept questioning where the fuck Karen Gillan was throughout the whole movie. Even Betty Gilpin, who is such a talented actress, is playing the emotionally manipulative bitchy character who has a drinking problem, which is unfortunately the only kind of character she’s been playing lately — the most recent time being A Dog’s Journey, which was a children’s movie! And God forbid Iko Uwais gets any lines of dialogue and is just used for his combat abilities because he’s that dude from The Raid.
If you’re going to base your buddy-action/comedy on a recognizable rideshare app, then you better at least get the full mechanics of that app correct. I don’t want to go into detail about how wrong this film depicts the Uber service just for the sake of plot. Let’s just say that the writer is unaware of how the service works, much like the writers of The Emoji Movie were inept when it came to writing about how phones work. Like, I don’t care at this point. I literally forgot this movie the moment I stepped out of the theater. It didn’t make me mad, it was just middle-of-the-road.
Stuber has its fare ride-share of laughable moments, but this middle-of-the-road comedy wastes its talented cast on a mediocre script.
Rating: 2.5/5| 51%
