Stuber

2019

R

Yacs here with another movie review. It has been a while since my last movie review, but I’m going to give it another whirl with this 2019 action comedy film. Stuber has been on my watch list for a while and I finally watched it for the first time last night. Dave Bautista was my draw to this film. In case you didn’t know already, I write wrestling articles here and immediately when I saw Batista was in this, I knew I had to check it out. He wasn’t my favorite wrestler, but he was always awesome.

Here is a little background about the film. Stuber is an action comedy that mainly tells the story of a veteran cop and his pursuit of a drug lord that killed his police partner. A few months have passed and the veteran cop, Vic Manning (Dave Bautista), decides to take a few days off to get eye surgery, which is kind of an minor reason why he couldn’t detain the murderous criminal. He also uses this time to be around his daughter, Nicole (Natalie Morales). They don’t really get along that well and Vic half-heartedly wants to go to an art gallery, where some of Nicole’s sculptures are being display. She decides to download the Uber app to his phone, so he could safely have a ride and primarily because he wouldn’t have an excuse to bail out.

Sporting goods store employee, Stu Prasad (Kumail Nanjiani) has a new Nissan Leaf electric car and happens to be an Uber driver on the side. Stu takes pride in his Uber experience and desperately wants to receive 5-star ratings from those who ride with him, but he hasn’t had a lot of luck . He also is in a complicated relationship with a woman (Betty Gilpin) he loves, but is too nervous to share his true feelings for her. Despite the fact that Nicole’s art show is approaching, Vic gets a tip about the drug lord that murdered his former police partner and rushes to avenge the criminal. Even though he is temporarily blind, he attempts to drive to the place where he heard the tip, but crashes his vehicle. Vic calls in an Uber and he is paired with Stu. Vic and Stu finally meet up and now you are buckled in to the story. This odd-pairing duo is set on a journey that takes them to strange places and uncomfortable situations for Stu. He becomes an aid for Vic in his undercover police work and he doesn’t want to stick around because the woman that he loves wants to meet up with him. Although these two guys struggle to see eye-to-eye, the two begrudgingly become acquaintances and help each other with their problems in real time and their personal lives.

I glanced over some reviews from critics and fans as well and I mainly agree with the majority of them about this film. It was decent and it definitely had funny parts in it, but it didn’t exactly reach its full potential. I thought Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista had solid chemistry, but I felt like there was more that could’ve been done. For what it was though, I liked it. It wasn’t the best movie I have ever seen, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. One of the main problems that I had with the film was the believability of it. While I understand it is a far-fetched comedy in some cases, Bautista’s character seemed a little weak, despite being made out to be a big, strong cop. I’m going to bring this back to wrestling, but Batista was one of the most dominant wrestlers in WWE history and he is getting his butt kicked by a guy half his size for the majority of the film. Again, I realize it is a movie, but I digress. It was good to see some familiar faces in this film though. Many of you probably recognize Natalie Morales from the famous TV show, Parks and Recreation and Betty Gilpin from the Netflix hit show, GLOW. Also, the film had Mira Sorvino, who has been a many films and Steve Howey, who is probably best known for his role in the TV show, Reba. Also, Karen Gillan from the new Jumanji films and Guardians of the Galaxy series of films.

Stuber is one of those movies that you can watch with your friends and have some good laughs and it is nothing more than that. It will not blow you away, but it is fine for what it is. The film wasn’t über successful, pun intended, but it did gross double the amount of the production cost, which I would consider a moderate success. This is a rated-R film, so it isn’t suitable for children and if you are squeamish with blood and murder, there are a few scenes involving that, so fair warning. Other than that though, a decent film, but not awesome.

GRADE: 3.25/5

Yacs

Movie Review: Stuber