Good Day Utah

Actions

Stuber: An unexpected but dynamic duo

Posted

This week, Fox 13's Steve Oldfield reviews "Stuber," where an Uber driver and a cop make up an unlikely team.

Stuber isn't great, but I laughed a lot and the very different actors have good chemistry.

Dave Batista and Kumail Nanjiani came together to show they can do what the other one is known for.

"I think we were both searching for the same things — I had not done comedy, he had not done action. We both wanted to prove we could do stuff and just broaden people's perceptions of who we were as performers," Batista said.

Dave's a tough cop; Kumail's a kinda wimpy Uber driver. He gets roped into fighting crime while he's driving around his customer from Hell.

It's not for young kids — it has more in common with the "Hangover" movies than most action buddy pics.

But it also has some heart — and they were definitely thinking about one of the crazy buzz phrases of 2019: toxic masculinity.

"He's really out of touch with his feelings. And he's really not just a very sensitive or kind person," Batista said of his character.

"He's very aggressive," Nanjiani added.

They worked hard but had fun along the way.

"We didn't have many days to this type of movie — big action stuff," Nanjiani said. "So you really are moving really, really fast."

"It's just grueling," Batista said, "but if everybody's on the same page, it just makes it fun."

There's an old saying in Hollywood: "fun shoot, lousy movie." But I don't think that's the case with Stuber — the audience I saw it with even clapped at the end.