‘Stuber’ Review: Yikes

I’ve always found comedies a little harder to review. Movies are already subjective enough, and that fact is only amplified with comedy. Comedies also get a bit more leeway in the other aspects. If the story isn’t great, and the non-comedic scenes aren’t all that well acted, the movie can still be successful as a comedy if the jokes land. So even though the jokes in Stuber did not hit for me, the humor here might be right up your alley. But outside of the (lack of) humor, there were a few other parts that really hurt its overall quality.

First a quick plot set-up. From Rotten Tomatoes:

“When a mild-mannered Uber driver named Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) picks up a passenger (Dave Bautista) who turns out to be a cop hot on the trail of a brutal killer, he’s thrust into a harrowing ordeal where he desperately tries to hold onto his wits, his life and his five-star rating.”

Although I wasn’t enamored with the previews, I was still holding out hope. Stuber has a solid cast and is an action-comedy and not just a straight comedy. And Dave Bautista is a former professional wrestler, so he knows what he’s doing. And Iko Uwais plays the movie’s villain. If you’re not familiar with his work, he’s one of the best martial artists, stuntmen, action actors out there. He starred in the wildly popular Raid movies, and was the best part of last year’s disappointing Mile 22. All this to say that with these two being featured, there should have at least been some great fight and action sequences.

Unfortunately Uwais is completely wasted. He’s barely in the movie, with the majority of his screen time coming in the opening moments, an extended chase and fight scene. This should have been a saving grace for the movie, but it was badly edited, overly cut, and used an incredible amount of shaky cam. Seriously, why does anyone bother with shaky cam anymore? You can’t see what’s happening, it’s jarring to the senses, I don’t get it. Maybe it makes sense if the characters fighting aren’t expertly trained fighters and they’re trying to mask that fact.

But that wasn’t the case here. As mentioned, Bautista is a professional wrestler. He’s also been cast in other physical roles. He knows how to handle himself. And Uwais is second to none when it comes to acting out fight scenes. Maybe the John Wick series has spoiled everyone, but Stuber had an easy win here, and they blew it.

If you haven’t seen Stuber yet, you might be wondering why Vic – a cop – needs an Uber driver in the first place. Well, Vic had laser eye surgery so that he wouldn’t have to wear glasses anymore. And wouldn’t you know it, but that very same day he receives just the tip he’s been looking for to take down Uwai’s drug-trafficking Teijo. Since Vic’s eyes are still recovering, he can’t drive. So he calls an Uber, and that’s how he links up with Stu.

This leads to a series of just plain bad recurring jokes. The movie really runs into the ground the “guy who can’t see keeps bumping into things” gag. Maybe they were looking for a way to pad the run time, but these jokes simply did not do it for me. Sure, a couple times can be funny. But when it’s every other scene? It just feels tired.

There’s also a love story subplot, because of course there is. Nanjiani’s Stu is in love with his best friend, Becca. He drives for Uber to earn extra money so he can help her start her own business (yep, that’s a real thing). And this was completely useless, as Becca only existed as motivation for Stu. She had no agency or character of her own.

The movie could have used Stu’s boss Richie (Jimmy Tatro) as the source of his motivation to start standing up for himself. Cut out all of Becca’s scenes, add a couple more with Richie. Or give Becca even an ounce of depth. In a movie sorely lacking in female characters – in the general sense and in terms of good characters – this could have been a boon to the movie as a whole. But this was just another confusing decision in a movie filled with them. In the end, Stuber continues the year’s trend of lackluster comedies. Thank goodness for Booksmart.

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Matt Hambidge