Pros: Dave Batiste and Kumail Nanjiani duet; action scenes; humor taking into account modern trends Cons: brutal and vulgar moments for everyone “Driver for a cop” / Stuber
Genre Comedy, Action
Directed by Michael Dawes
Starring Kumail Nanjiani (Stu), Dave Bautista (Vic), Karen Gillan (Sarah), Betty Gilpin (Becca), Steve Howey (Felix), Natalie Morales (Nicole), Iko Uwais (Oka), Jimmy Tatro (Richie) and etc.
20th Century Fox, GoldDay Productions
Year of release 2019
IMDB page
The plot of the film introduces us to a hero named Vic – he is a policeman who has been hunting for a drug dealer for a long time. It’s important for Vic to catch him personally because of the tragedy that happened in the past. When the cop finally gets a lead on the criminal, he is hampered by an unfortunate circumstance – vision correction surgery. While Vic has poor vision and can’t drive, he calls an Uber. This is how the policeman meets Stu, a decent driver who follows all the rules and tries to please his customers. Stu just needs to maintain a good rating, so he agrees to go on a trip with a loud and rude client.
The original title of the film is Stuber – a combination of Stu’s name and the name of a taxi service. At some point, it is Stu who becomes the main character, forced to endure dangerous criminal adventures that befall him. His character became a reflection of modern trends of tolerance, which collide with the lack of sensitivity of representatives of the old school. The scriptwriters play this out surprisingly well in comedy. They create quite frank situations and jokes that still do not cross the boundaries.
But the most important line in the comedy is, of course, the teamwork of two completely opposite heroes. They contrast against each other and create a bromance that never loses popularity. Dave Bautista (Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy) gets used to his usual role – he plays a thug who is not known for his tact. Compared to actor Kumail Nanjiani, famous for the TV series Silicon Valley, Batista looks even more impressive than usual.
In the film, Dave Bautiste and Kumail Nanjiani’s characters constantly get into altercations that, under normal circumstances, would end much faster. However, the plot involves criminals who definitely need to be caught, so the arguments of the main characters are often diluted with explosions and crazy chases.
So from a comedy it also turns into a dynamic action movie, which has spectacular moments. Along with them, there are some pretty bloody scenes in the film. They were quite rightly rated R, which also includes jokes for adults. So the film is clearly not for family viewing.
A tough and at the same time funny movie is the result of the work of Michael Daus. Previously, he directed the not-so-massive rom-com The F Word (starring Daniel Radcliffe) and the retro comedy Take Me Home Tonight. At Stuber, Daus worked with large scales and budgets, which gave him room for creative variation. For example, staging a tense shootout at a dog shelter where not a single animal was harmed. It cannot be said that Michael Dawes brought something new to cinema, but his approach to comedy turned out to be successful in its own way.
Therefore, Stuber will appeal to those who do not flinch from the sounds of explosions and do not wince from vulgar humor. This is a one-time movie that does not pretend to have intellectual themes, but it can be a great distraction for a while. Perhaps the comedy will please those who were looking for something in the spirit of The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
Conclusion:
The film fits well into the summer release. This is a spectacular action-comedy rated R
