This review is brought to you by Kathy Kaiser
STUBER – Rated R – 1 hr. 33 mins.
DIRECTOR: Michael Dowse
WRITER: Tripper Clancy
STARRING: Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Mira Sorvino, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Karen Gillan, Jimmy Tatro and Steve Howey
When undercover detective Vic Manning (Dave Bautista) gets a tip on the rats he’s been tracking a long time, it seems that impaired vision after Lasix surgery is no match for this cop on a mission! Now, unable to drive, Manning must enlist the services of the nearest Uber driver…enter Stu (Kumail Nanjiani), who is more than happy to take Manning wherever he needs to go, as he continues to strive for a 5 star rating! But when a one-way ride with his new passenger ~ turns into a crime stopping spree of epic proportions ~ Stu’s soon realizes his second job as an Uber driver to help pay his bills, is about to totally up the ante of his less than exciting life…
I give STUBER a rating between MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN and WAIT AND CATCH THIS FILM ON DVD! For all you Uber drivers out there…I can only hope that your excursions with your passengers are ½ as much fun as the encounter portrayed in STUBER, as I haven’t had this much fun watching a comedy in quite some time! Perfectly cast together, Nanjiani and Bautista bring their own spin to “the partner scenario”, playing off one another very well, thus making this film a laugh a minute the whole way through. And the supportive character cast, including Sorvino, Morales, Gillan, Tatro…even the cameo performance by Steve Howey, were so perfectly played out this time around, they all had me chuckling throughout every frame that they occupied too. Suffice to say that if you love Nanjiani the way I do, or if you are dying to see Bautista play a character totally different than Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, then you have to head out to a theater near you this weekend to catch STUBER. But, if buddy films that are a laugh a minute aren’t really “your deal”, then you’ll be fine waiting to catch STUBER when it hits on DVD too, as even though this film it very entertaining, it’s still not one of those super funny films that you just can’t wait one more second till you get the opportunity to see it. And regardless of which way you view this film, know too that you don’t need to stick around past the credits, as there are no post credit scenes shared once its through…Enough said…
This humble opinion is brought to by you T. K. Edwards
STUBER – Rated R – 1 h 33 mins
Director: Michael Dowse
Cast: Dave Bautista, Kumail Nanjiani, Mira Sorvino, Karen Gillan, Iko Uwais
A detective recruits his Uber driver into an unexpected night of adventure.
NO SPOILERS BELOW
STUBER had the potential to be a really funny movie filled with amazing action, but instead it misses the mark ever so slightly. Buddy comedies are hard to do because it is entirely based on the chemistry of the actors in the film. Bautista and Kumail are both great individually and their resumes speak for themselves, but their chemistry in STUBER just couldn’t quite find its groove. I mean there were a few moments in the movie that were laugh out loud, but not enough for me to consider this movie a “hit” or a “must see”. It felt like Kumail was holding back too much and Bautista was too worried about being more dramatic. There was no common ground between the two of them and that caused the jokes to be less funny. Normally, when this happens the action is upped a few more notches and this in turn compensates for the movie dragging, but even the action couldn’t keep my attention, which is a real shame because you have Iko Uwais in your movie and his martial arts skills are unbelievable to watch. Even the movie’s story had the potential to be better than it was, but once again it fell just shy of the goal line. I think if they added about 30 more minutes of story and focused a little bit more on the relationship of our two leads, then the finished film would have turned out better. Now, I do realize that I’m getting greedy when it comes to a movie about a quasi-blind cop commandeering an uber driver to help him solve his ongoing case…I see that – LMAO, but Hey…I want, what I want. In all honesty, I really was pulling for STUBER to be better than it was and had high hopes that it would turn into a classic comedy worthy of a sequel, but unfortunately it just didn’t entertain me as much as I wanted it too. I love action comedies and we don’t see enough of them and I will be in the front of the line for the next one that comes down the pipeline. As for STUBER, save your money and watch this one at home. It still has some funny parts in it and it’s worth a watch, just not in the theaters. Until next time, thanks for reading.
P.S. – There is no post credit scene.
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