Stuber Review: Ride-Share Comedy Struggles to Lyft Off
Plot Synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com: “A detective recruits his Uber driver into an unexpected night of adventure.”
Directed by: Michael Dowse (It’s All Gone Pete Tong)
Written by: Tripper Clancy (Four Against the Bank)
Starring: Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation)
Stuber is rated R.
Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
Aside from being yet another summer filled with superhero spectacles on a massive scale, the summer of 2019 has been defined by a string of small budget comedy films succeeding critically, and in some cases financially as well. Films such as Long Shot and Late Night made the leap from film festivals to wide release, and Netflix’s original Always Be My Maybe seemed to leave its mark on viewers at home. With the summer more than halfway over, yet another film festival comedy has made its theatrical debut, intent on adding itself to the list of memorable laughs this summer.
Stuber (which premiered at SXSW alongside Long Shot) seems to be cut from the same cloth as your typical buddy-cop comedy, with Dave Bautista playing the grizzled detective alongside Kumail Nanjiani as an unsuspecting and reluctant Uber driver. Although Bautista has played supporting roles in films such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Blade Runner 2049, this seems like the first full-fledged attempt to transition the wrestling star into Hollywood’s next leading man. Unfortunately for Bautista, he is not Dwayne Johnson and it shows.
You can hardly write off anybody’s career after their first starring role, but Bautista’s performance in Stuber demonstrates that he still has a long way to go. I give him credit for his attempts at comedy, but it is apparent that the genre isn’t something he is totally comfortable with, let alone equipped for. He is expressionless and gruff well past the point of believability, and while the writing hinted at an inevitable change of heart, nothing in his performance hinted at development prior to an abrupt 180 in the waning moments of the film.
Only a couple years removed from his breakthrough in The Big Sick, Kumail Nanjiani has already established himself to have more than enough comedic timing and charm to make up for Bautista’s stodgy demeanor. In the case of Bautista’s characterization, it is possible to acquit the screenwriter of blame for that failure, but there is no excuse when you are writing for somebody as talented as Nanjiani. Each of his lines comes across as nothing more than a one-dimensional caricature of Nanjiani’s previous work.
As a whole, the writing in Stuber leaves it almost entirely devoid of action or comedy (which arguably constitute some of the most essential ingredients in any action-comedy), and does absolutely nothing unique with the genre. The best comedies offer relevant commentary or clever twists on classic tropes, but Stuber fails to capture anything noticeable in either regard. An ongoing gag tries to grapple with the idea of toxic masculinity, although the jokes never get past the point of poking fun at Bautista’s muscular build, or at Nanjiani’s lack thereof.
Looking back, I hope to remember these past few months as the summer of anything-but-Stuber. There is nothing wrong with a film being formulaic and predictable, as long as it offers something thrilling, funny or exciting. In that regard, Stuber delivers nothing. Its egregious predictability and lack of anything cinematic make a strong case that the preferred medium for this story would have been a tweet rather than a 90-minute film. Even the concept of an “Uber themed movie” feels like an aging studio executive trying woefully to appeal to an audience of millennials. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to the “avocado toast horror film” that is sure to come next.
Reel Rating: 2/10
Stuber is now playing in cinemas.
