Movie Reviews: Stuber

Stuber is a 2019 American buddy action comedy film directed by Michael Dowse and written by Tripper Clancy. It stars Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Jimmy Tatro, Mira Sorvino, and Karen Gillan. The film follows an Uber driver who unwillingly becomes part of a police officer’s arrest operation even though he was against being a part of it all and was just doing his job.

Stu Prasad, a meager Uber driver obsessed to get his first 5-star review in the app, is forced by an aggressive Los Angeles Police Department detective Vic Manning to drive him around town to catch notorious drug lord Oka Tedjo. For Vic, it is especially personal, as Tedjo had murdered Sara Morris, Vic’s rookie partner, six months earlier. However, Vic is unable to do the task alone as he recently got a laser eye surgery that prevents him from having good sight.

Along the way, Stu deals with Vic’s deranged behavior while trying to express his feelings to his friend Becca. Stu and Vic confront each other about Stu’s inability to man up while Vic is called out for his toxic masculinity and negligence toward his daughter Nicole as it draws similarities to the attitude that Vic’s own father had shown him.

Clues lead Stu and Vic to travel to various locations in Los Angeles, such as Koreatown, then a male stripper club and a house in Long Beach when Vic detains a key suspect of his investigation and rescues a dog from being drugged to hide the evidence. However, Stu accidentally shoots the thug in the leg and Vic leads them to an Animal Hospital where a group of thugs find the two and try to attack them. While Stu is scared, Vic manages to take control of the situation by making Stu throw dog food cans at the thugs and shooting those who got stunned.

Vic, using the phone of one of the thugs, sends a text to their leader to inform of “his” death and then runs to Nicole’s museum exposition to warn her about the impending danger. Meanwhile, Stu struggles to keep his relationship with Becca, a friend and partner of his in an upcoming spin biking gym who is heartbroken due to a fight with another love interest and is wanting him come to her home to get drunk and have casual sex, however Stu is more interested to date her instead.

Eventually, the two face Tedjo at the location of his drop, where Vic finds that Captain McHenry is a dirty cop who has been working with Tedjo and was planning to frame Vic for murder to get him off their trail, while Stu does admit he loves Becca, but then realizes it wouldn’t work since he knows she doesn’t feel the same way and that they shouldn’t even be friends.

Stu and Vic work together to take down the villains, but Nicole ends up in the mayhem when she finds them and is nearly shot by Tedjo. Stu takes the bullet, and Vic almost kills Tedjo before Nicole stops him, and the cops arrive to bring Tedjo to justice.

After Stu and Vic recover, they become good friends while Vic finally gives Stu a 5-star review in Uber (despite the $5300 fare he has to pay him), and Becca has started up a successful spin biking business, though she obviously is still mad at Stu for leaving her. Vic arrives at Nicole’s for Christmas, along with the dog he found earlier, only to discover that Nicole is dating Stu.