Stuber (2019) 20th Century Fox/Action-Comedy RT: 93 minutes Rated R (violence and language throughout, some sexual references, brief graphic nudity) Director: Michael Dowse Screenplay: Tripper Clancy Music: Joseph Trapanese Cinematography: Bobby Shore Release date: July 12, 2019 (US) Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Jimmy Tatro, Mira Sorvino, Karen Gillan, Steve Howey, Rene Moran, Amin Joseph, Amber Chardae Robinson, Scott Lawrence, Stroker. Box Office: $22.3M (US)/$32.2M (World)
Rating: **
Stuber is as generic an action-comedy as they come. It’s lazy too, so lazy I’m surprised the makers even bothered to come up with a title let alone one as awful as Stuber. They could have simply entitled it Action-Comedy #587 (number selected at random) and left it at that. It follows the same exact plotline as hundreds of other such pictures. Two unlikely partners team up to solve a case and become friends along the way. In this case, the pair consists of tough guy cop Vic (Bautista, Guardians of the Galaxy) and sensitive Uber driver Stu (Nanjiani, The Big Sick). Vic is a brute who neglects his grown daughter Nicole (Morales, Abby’s) and doesn’t understand technology. Stu is a wimp and a walking, talking doormat. He lets everybody walk all over him especially Becca (Gilpin, Isn’t It Romantic), the “best friend” he’s been in love with for a long time even though she just uses him. It’s a sure bet that by movie’s end, Stu will find his inner tough guy and Vic will find his inner wimp.
The plot of Stuber, such as it is, has vengeful Vic going after the vicious drug lord Teijo (Uwais, The Raid) that murdered his partner (Gillan, Guardians of the Galaxy) six months earlier. He’s ordered off the case by his captain (Sorvino, The Replacement Killers) but jumps back on it after receiving a tip that something involving Teijo is about to go down. There’s just one small glitch. Vic just had Lasik surgery and can’t see a thing. Without his sight, he can’t drive so he sends for an Uber. He gets Stu and his leased electric car. He’s obsessed with maintaining above a four-star rating. To that end, he offers free goodies to all his passengers. Vic isn’t interested in any of this; he just wants to nail Teijo before he gets away again. He forces poor Stu to drive him around while he tries to locate Teijo. This, of course, means that Stu will find himself in many dangerous situations, most of which involve him being shot at.
In the midst of all the shooting and car chases, Stu tries to deal with his feelings about Becca while Vic worries about making it to his daughter’s art exhibition that night. Vic isn’t inclined to open up about his feelings; Stu talks way too much about his feelings. The two men couldn’t be more different yet they manage to find enough common ground to take down the bad guy together. In movies of this genre, this is how male friendships begin. Sometimes it works beautifully- e.g. 48 Hrs, Lethal Weapon. Other times it doesn’t. Sadly but not unexpectedly, Stuber is an instance of the latter.
The first clue is the casting; it’s just so random. It’s like the makers threw darts at a board to determine who would play the lead roles. It’s not good casting. The two actors have no chemistry whatsoever. Bautista is better suited to action than comedy. His attempts at being funny are forced and clumsy. Take his character’s sight impairment. It yields a whole bunch of gags recycled from the old Mr. Magoo cartoons. He bumps into stuff a lot. He aims his gun at the wrong things. When he fires, he does so blindly. It gets old fast. As for Nanjiani, I can’t believe he got roped into this. He was excellent in The Big Sick. Here, he plays the most annoying person EVER! He whines, complains and seems on the verge of tears most of the time. I kept hoping that Vic would slap him. If I could have reached through the screen, I would have smacked this whimpering idiot. HOWEVER, the most grievous mistake Stuber makes is in how it wastes Uwais as the villain. He has maybe 10-12 minutes of screen time tops. He gets to fight but it’s simply not enough. He’s not around long enough for us to get to really hate him.
The plot is completely formulaic and predictable right down to the dirty cop secretly working against Vic. You’ll have no problem picking this person out if you understand Roger Ebert’s “Law of Economy of Characters” which states that NO character is unimportant regardless of how extraneous they seem. Everything in Stuber is totally by-the-book. To its credit, it’s not unwatchable. It has a couple of mildly amusing moments and some okay action scenes. The main problem with Stuber is that it is utterly mediocre and forgettable. It’s neither good nor bad; it’s just there and barely. You might not mind watching it but it’s likely you’ll forget that you did in a month’s time.
