Review: Stuber

Have you ever thought, “Man, my Uber drive would be a great adventure companion and probably has a lot of hidden resolve!” If the answer is no, you would be right, but that won’t stop the creators of Stuber.

Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick and Silicon Valley) stars as Stu, a ho-hum walk-all-over-me kind of guy that splits his time between the girl hes too afraid to be honest with and his jobs as a salesman and Uber driver. Joining him is Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) as a hard-nosed police detective named Vic Manning. …Which, looking at it, did they intentionally put “Man” in his name to drive home the alpha and manly nature his character was supposed to exude? Hit us on the nose writing. But I digress.

Vic Manning is pulling his last string to capture the man that hurt someone close to him. A moment that ended badly for many reasons, but forefront was Vics bad eyesight, which, without glasses, was a dangerous affair. So choosing to overcome this obstacle, he goes in for Lasik surgery to correct his vision, which had the side effect of leaving him almost blind. An issue for most people, but not for man with a new lead that might nab him his wanted criminal.

Figuring out that driving was not a real option, Vic decides to call an uber to take him to a meet with his informant. Enter Stu and his eco-friendly little vehicle. Through intimidation and threats, Vic pushes and pulls Stu through danger as an unwilling slash helping hostage.

Together they work out anger, resentment and road blocks as they traverse the Los Angeles valley on Vic’s hunt for justice and Stu’s winding road to manhood.

I can see what the writers wanted to do with this film. Strong guy and weakling mixed together equals buddy comedy. Unfortunately, the measurement for this cake did not equal something palatable. Kumail plays an Uber driver, again, and a neurotic nerd, again. Let’s try to add more to the character, let’s give them something to work with. Having him riff in an electric car works best if the plot isn’t in a regular state of neutral. As for Bautista, he’s just playing Drax The Destroyer without the body paint. A colorless personality that has funny points, but provides nothing pivotal as a character. He might as well transform into a car and drive them to the next destination.

Truth be told, I wanted to like this film. In fact, some friends I took to the screening, did very much enjoy it. And if this was a throwaway Netflix film with a 5 million dollar budget, I could let many things go. But, this was a definite opportunity for both of these actors to step up. Playing to form, but bringing something new or pushing new bounds.

Frankly, this makes me worry about Bautista and his upcoming film ‘My Spy’, where he teams up with a young girl. A step that all action actors have taken, from Schwarzenegger’s ‘Kindergarten Cop’ to The Rock’s ‘Game Plan’. A definite step towards proving your fun for the whole family, but if played wrong, we’ll hit a very big stumble that will lead into the dreaded land of Direct-To-Home-DVD.

There are some laughs for sure, but also some lulls. The amount of new in this script amounts to the use of modern day technology and a re-hash of buddy films from days gone by. So if you’re looking for easy laughs and a buddy comedy, Stuber might be for you. As long as you realize that you might not reach your destination and no one should get 5 stars.

Grade: C-
Running Time: 1h 33m
MPAA Rating: R