Buddy action cop films are always a great time at the movies, ranging from films such as Lethal Weapon, The Other Guys, 21 Jump Street, and even Ride Along. So a film such as Stuber which has the potential to be up there with the rest of these films, completely misses its mark, or should I say destination. The film stars Kumail Nanjiani as the movies title character Stu, a sporting goods store salesman as well as a Uber driver. While Stu is an overall nice guy he lacks the confidence and self-esteem to confront his problems and even tell the girl he has been in love with his whole life that he has feelings for her. During his Uber shift, he picks up an hard-hitting LAPD detective named Vic, played by WWE superstar and guardian of the galaxy Dave Bautista. Vic is currently on a manhunt for a ruthless drug lord and trafficker known as Teijo who has caused a great harm to him in his past and now wants to finally put him away behind bars. The problem is on the day of all days when he can finally get Teijo, Vic is recovering from lasik eye surgery and is temporarily blind. So with this factor he forces Stu to drive him to all his locations to find Teijo. Throughout the film they encounter hitmen, gangsters, and each other as they both try to make the other a better person in the sense of Stu being more confident in himself and Vic trying to be a better man and father to adult daughter named Nicole, meanwhile they both want to kill each other on the way. Some of the things I did like about the film, which to be honest was not much, was first the twist in the middle of the film, that showed the audience who the real villain was the whole time, and secondly the factor of Vic being blind throughout the film. That information was the one joke that was not shared throughout the trailers and commercials that managed to make me chuckle at some points. Now here comes the factors of the film that almost made me walk out of the film, so buckle up boys and girls, it's about to be a bumpy ride. The chemistry between Nanjiani and Bautista was borderline cringeworthy. I expected the two to go along together such as peanut butter and jelly, but I found myself not caring for either of the characters or their problems. The jokes of the film, as sort of mentioned previously, mainly the good ones were all given away in the trailers, so the parts I should have been laughing you already knew the punchline. On top of this the jokes you were not aware of, felt forced and made you question on why you were still in the theater at this point. Lastly the plot overall just felt very basic especially with the talent between Bautista and Nanjiani, this could have been a fun film and I myself really wanted to leave the theater and say "Wow! What a very fun movie, I quite enjoyed that" meanwhile in reality I found myself wondering was there a good moment in this movie? I think the problem of this film is mostly that it take itself very serious. In movies such as 21 Jump Street the fun of the movie is it is not taking itself serious and questioning the actions of the characters as the film unfolds. Stuber overall find itself being almost awkward and uneasy, thus providing a huge step backwards in the world of comedy films.
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