The "buddy cop" film is a staple of studio blockbuster comedy. Every year or two, we get the latest eclectic pairing of a goofy or wimpy comedian with a serious, angry, and/or brutish hardass, both of which are generally experiencing a significant wave of stardom from other recent work. Usually it's a barebones script and story, held together (with varying degrees of success) entirely by the charisma and chemistry of the film's two stars.
In Stuber, comedian-turned-actor Kumail Nanjiani and wrestler-turned-Avenger Dave Bautista play our goofy wimp and brutish hardass, respectively, and in essence, it's all pretty typical fare. Fortunately, the stars' charisma and chemistry work wonders, and it helps that the script has a little more comedic and emotional meat on its bones than the average entry in the subgenre. That said, it's clunky, often needlessly crude, and navigates its themes about as well as a Bautista in a china shop. But it is funny, and the contrast between the pair feels genuinely shocking more often than it feels contrived and prefabricated.
Nanjiani plays Stu, a floor associate at a sporting goods store in Los Angeles who moonlights as an Uber driver. He kind of hates both jobs, and longs for the reciprocated romance of his best friend Becca (Betty Gilpin), with whom he's opening a spin gym—it's her dream, not his, but this is Stu's way of trying to get her to notice how much he "cares" about her.
Bautista is police officer Vic Manning, a skilled drug-buster but a terrible excuse for a father. He has always put work before his daughter Nicole (Natalie Morales), and now more than ever since his partner (Karen Gillan) was killed on a bust gone wrong a few months prior. After coming home to recover from laser eye surgery, Vic receives a tip about a deal going down involving heroin kingpin and the man who killed his partner, Tedjo (Iko Uwais). Unable to drive himself to the alleged location of the deal, Vic calls an Uber, and thus our heroes' paths collide. The rest of the story consists of Stu attempting to complete the ride and leave, and Vic repeatedly stopping him, roping him into police business, and forcing him to witness and participate in acts of extreme violence. Stuber is, at times, repulsively casual about its disregard for police responsibility in favor of graphic violence and "cool" action sequences. I'm not one to shy away from violence used as a comedy device, but in the context of police work, especially in the current sociopolitical climate, it seems reckless and regressive.
Likewise, each main character's emotional arc (Stu trying to find love with Becca, and Vic becoming a better father) is problematic in how it frames not only the women in each man's life, but how the men address their own masculinity. For most of the film, Stu is essentially trying to have a drunken hookup with Becca, his close friend, in the wake of a breakup with her allegedly bad boyfriend. Meanwhile, Vic never really learns or reconciles his negligent fatherhood and general disinterest in his daughter's passions, she just... stops resenting him? It's all very quick-and-easy, with strange and sometimes dangerous implications about how much these guys actually care about the women in their lives.
All of that said, it's still pretty funny when it's committing to the pair's antics and contrasting personalities. Nanjiani is at full-tilt exasperation, wide-eyed and screeching his reactions to Vic's extreme and reckless lifestyle, and Bautista is full-tilt Bautista—throaty, incomprehensible yelling and tackling things. It's simple, but relatively effective.
In short, I laughed quite a bit at Stuber, but was nonetheless put-off by some of its cynicism and the way it treats people. It's like eating Hardee's: gross, grimy, probably bad for you, but with enough control and self-awareness, you can have a fairly safe good time with it. I don't think we need more movies with the social and political mindset of Stuber, especially given how tired and regurgitory the "buddy cop" subgenre has become. I do, however, think we need more movies about Nanjiani and/or Bautista being out of their element.