Movie Review - Stuber

Stuber **½ (out of 5) (R) There’ve been plenty of action comedies in which a hero suddenly needs the help of an ordinary civilian, leading to a frenetic pursuit of the villain(s) du jour. The innocent citizen begins as an unwilling, frightened helper before ending up as essential to the happy ending, with both players becoming better people from the experience. Of them all, this is the most... recent. If you’ve seen the formula before, you’ll be periodically amused by this scion of the sub-genre.

In this case, a hard-nosed cop (Dave Bautista) is hell-bent on finally nailing his bugaboo bad guy, despite being ordered off the case and nearly blind from LASIK surgery that morning. He gets an Uber, driven by a nice, beleaguered fellow named Stu (comedian Kumail Nanjiani) who becomes nearly a hostage as they careen around their city striving to break up the big drug deal expected that night. It’s like cabbie Dopinder promoted to Deadpool’s co-star. The usual array of character conflicts, chases and other forms of mayhem follow dutifully, with varying degrees of humor.

Nothing new. Nothing special, beyond a pleasant bit of relief from summer’s heat and society’s problems. (7/11/19).