As the summer movie season rolls on, director Michael Dowse and screenwriter Tripper Clancy offer up “Stuber”. In this buddy/road trip type film, Kumail Nanjiani is Stu, who is making some extra money as an Uber driver while working at a local sporting good store and becoming a partner in small business with the girl he has had a crush on since college in Becca (Betty Gilpin). On a day of chaos in both the best and worst ways, he ends up with a request for a ride from Vic (Dave Bautista), a hard-nosed cop whom is on the track for the one bad guy that got away which also happens to take place just after he has Lasik surgery, rendering him almost blind for most of the day.
I was looking forward to this film, especially since Kumail Nanjiani is becoming a favorite of mine. As talented as he is, there were many poor choices made within the script that he couldn’t save this film from. I don’t know if Clancy wrote Kumail’s material or if he was allowed creative freedom, but either way there were some enjoyable lines. Dave Bautista on the other hand has a character in a situation that opened a lot of room to work with, and he barely even speaks his lines or stretches himself to match up to what his co-star was doing. I will admit that I would probably not change the channel if “Stuber” happened to come on TV, but I would also not go out of my way to see it or own it.