Stuber

This month America received some bad news:  MAD magazine is shutting down after many years of juvenile satire of current events.  Good news:  the movie Stuber is probably written by those former MAD magazine writers.


Kumail Nanjiani is Stu, an Uber driver in Los Angeles.  So his nickname is Stuber.  Desperate for extra income from his soul-crushing job, he takes another soul-crusher driving for Uber.

Dave Bautisa is Vic, an LAPD cop out to avenge the death of his partner at the hand of the evil Tedjo.  But, fun fact, he can't see to drive or shoot or anthing.  So he calls an Uber,  who is Stuber, and forces him to drive him around for One Crazy Night.  It's almost like they are chained together.  Stu keeps up the driving to protect his elusive 5 star rating.

If that sounds like Midnight Run or Heat, then you see where the MAD magazine writers come in.  It plays more like a parody of every buddy cop, 80s movie that you can think of.  To keep you in on the joke, every few minutes there is a reminder:  Sarah Conner, Dolph Lundgren, Cobra Kai, etc.

Kumail Nanjiani is the star of the show.  It'd probably be a better movie with just him.  Dave Bautista does the hack acting job of the former wrestler turned actor.  Dwayne Johnson and John Cena must have been too expensive for this modern update on a genre that didn't need updating.

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