Stuber – Review – On The Clock

Can we honestly petition to put Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani in everything??

Stuber is directed by Michael Dowse and it stars Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani. It revolves around an Uber driver named Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) who picks up a passenger (Dave Bautista) who turns out to be a cop, hot on the trail of a brutal killer. Stu is forcefully thrust into a harrowing ordeal, where he desperately tries to hold onto his wits, his life, and his five-star rating.

I have loved everything Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista has been in previously, so hearing the fact that these two would be teaming up for an action comedy made me super excited to see what these two can bring to the table. And thankfully, I had all the reason to be excited. While it isn’t a revolutionary comedy, Stuber is such a fun time to be had in cinemas this summer! A movie like this relies on the chemistry of its two leads, and thankfully Stuber has that part covered so well, mainly due to how Kumail and Dave are literally the perfect comedic duo for a film like this. The two actors are literally having a blast on screen with their on-screen interactions and style of crude comedy; which is being blended together so well. Kumail shows once again how great he is on screen, and Dave has officially shown how great he is at comedy films, as it shows his natural talent as an actor.

The film is also really damn funny from beginning to end, thanks to it’s decent enough script. There are some jokes that don’t land, as well as others that do, but overall the film has lots of memorable jokes that will make the intended audience laugh. Stuber also has some really solid pacing. The film goes by really fast and there was never really a point where you could feel it’s run-time. There is also some decent bits of heartfelt material to the film, mainly due to how empathetic the characters were initially established, which ended up making the audience care for them in the end. Because of the heartfelt moments, Stuber easily stands out a bit more from your standard action-comedy.

Like I said before, Stuber isn’t a revolutionary flick as there are some issues in the film. There is a decent chunk of action, which was especially fun to see near the end of the movie. However, some of the action (especially in the beginning) was quite terrible due to its shaky cam and rough editing. There is an artistic intention to the shaky cam in order to give a frenetic feeling, but the cinematography could’ve easily been toned down. At some points, it’s really hard to make out what’s happening in the action scenes. The film is also really predictable narrative, as there is a lot of the standard cliche’s and obvious twists presented here.

Overall, Stuber is a really solid and fun comedy to see this summer! It isn’t revolutionary, and it has some issues. But when you look at this film from a pure comedic and entertainment perspective, then the film really does its job in what it sets out to achieve.

8/10