Stuber Review

Stuber was directed by Michael Dowse and stars Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Jimmy Tatro, Mira Sorvino and Karen Gillan.

The film is about a dedicated but relentless detective who enlists the help of an average Uber driver when he has the chance to bring down the criminal who killed his partner. But of course difficulties occur along the way, mostly stemming from how different the two men are, and they have to overcome those differences if they are to work together so that one can do his job while maintaining the reputation that he holds quite dear.

The performances are fine, but Nanjiani and Bautista effortlessly stand out. They do play the roles in a clichéd fashion but have an undeniable chemistry and Bautista especially shows commitment to his role, with often comedic presence and at times scene-stealing charisma. Nanjina does have moments too, but beyond the characters' chemistry it felt like he was really just there to give reactions of shock to anything that was happening around him. And also adapting to one situation after another which really was only funny with him once or twice.

The film was written by Tripper Clancy and on paper feels like a very generic buddy cop film, but the script keeps everything moving at a brisk pace, with often funny dialogue and over the top action sequences. And there is at times a feeling of self awareness, of the film knowing how silly it is and not taking itself too seriously. When things get even slightly dramatic, that feeling of comedic tone is still there.  I thought of the script as an interesting way to do a film that feels conventional, but all the right steps seem to have been taken to keep it from slowing down and getting boring.

The film was shot by Bobby Shore and most of the shots are fine if unmemorable. But the one shot that somewhat manages to stand out is where a can flies directly into a man's head. I feel like the objective of the shot was either shock or disgust in a darkly comedic way... or maybe it's just as simple as doing something to get a reaction out of the audience. In the end if just a reaction is its goal, then it definitely succeeds.

The score was composed by Joseph Trapanese and while it's not very memorable the film tries to make up for that with a variety of popular songs. The standout moment for the music has to be during a gunfight when a rather relaxed song is being played over the obviously intense situation, along with some rather unusual visual choices to help go along with it. To have a song that is so clearly out of place for everything else that is happening in the scene, but yet somehow feels refreshing and enjoyable, just added more to my enjoyment of it.

The one thing that lessened my enjoyment of the film would be that from very early on we know why Bautista is going after this particular criminal. But even before the main events even start, we get a pre-titles sequence showing how all of that happened. It doesn't slow anything down, but certainly could have been told to the audience through dialogue instead of a five to ten minute infodump sequence. Instead the film could have used those minutes to achieve the potential that it doesn't quite fulfil.

The conclusions I draw from this are: Stuber has good performances especially from Bautista; a conventional script that's self-aware, funny and engaging, and rarely drags; one startling shot in the cinematography which I think was maybe put in just to get a reaction from the audience; a score that fails to stand out in any way, but uses a popular song in one scene to great comedic effect; and is only flawed by spending a few minutes focusing on something that could have been done in a much simpler way.
Having taken all my pros and cons into account, I'm going to give Stuber...

B-

Thank you for reading.