‘Stuber’ is seeking a five-star rating, but gets lost before its destination

Posted on July 19, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

The odd-couple comedy trope has been around for decades, and for nearly that long, movies have been combining it with the buddy-cop trope to create some quality movies, including “Dragnet,” “Lethal Weapon” and “The Heat.”

The latest to give it a whirl is “Stuber,” which features an odd couple of not two cops, but a grizzled police detective and an Uber driver. The resulting movie does produce some laughs, but it never rises to the level you would hope (and expect) considering the two leads.

The story follows police detective Vic Manning (Dave Bautista, “Guardians of the Galaxy”), who has been trying to hunt down a ruthless criminal named Oka Tedjo (Iko Uwais, “Mile 22”) for months. Unfortunately, the tip that might finally break the case wide open comes right after he undergoes LASIK surgery, so not only is he on leave, but he can’t see to drive himself around town.

So, instead he called Uber, and gets Stu (Kumail Nanjiani, “The Big Sick”) as his driver. Stu has plenty of problems in his life, but none of them involve getting shot at or dealing with criminals, at least not until Vic comes calling.

The resulting story plays out pretty much as you would expect, with Vic tracking down Tedjo while Stu just wants to get rid or his rider and meet up with the woman he has a major crush on (and who just broke up with her boyfriend).

As I said, I laughed a decent bit during the movie, but it feels like there is a much better-written version of the movie somewhere, especially considering the comedic talents of both Bautista and Nanjiani.

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