trailer review
Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani have teamed up for Stuber, an action comedy that seems to be built around a very familiar premise.
When Uber driver, Stu (Kumail Nanjiani), picks up a passenger, Vic (Dave Bautista), he unwittingly becomes part of a dangerous chase. Vic, it turns out, is a cop who is going after a brutal killer, and Stu has to go along for the ride. Anything for a five-star rating, right?
But it seems highly unlikely that the film itself will merit five stars.
This rideshare adventure seems to be built on worn-out buddy comedy beats, and its basic premise is nothing new either. Deadpool successfully used the gimmick of an action hero teaming up with a taxi driver for a considerable amount of humour only recently. Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon also gave us something similar in Taxi (which was itself a remake of a French action comedy), while Michael Mann’s Collateral took a more sombre approach to the premise..
From the looks of it, Stuber doesn’t seem to be doing anything particularly inventive. But there is still hope though that the movie will at least be funny. A sequence revolving around a tossed gun does merit a laugh. It’s not highbrow comedy, but it could certainly generate a few chuckles on a lazy summer evening. Plus the lead performers have chemistry, and their fans are likely to enjoy watching the actors’ comedic high jinks. It helps that Bautista has proved his acting talents in the terrific Guardians of the Galaxy series. And we know that Nanjiani can, umm, play an Uber driver because he also portrayed one in The Big Sick, so make of that what you will.
Also, the trailer is vague about the actual storyline. We don't even know what has prompted this cop to use an Uber. Maybe something more interesting will unfold in the film, and we’ll be more invested in the tale once we’ve seen the actual adventure.
Stuber comes out on 12 July 2019.
- Sameen Amer
The Express Tribune Blog - 13th April, 2019 *
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