'Stuber' - Movie Review

Pastiche buddy cop movie. They apply two tiny twists: the cop is currently - temporarily - nearly blind, and his buddy is an Uber driver. Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) has a crappy day job at a sporting goods store, driving Uber in the evenings - much is made of his desperate pursuit of a five star rating. Vic (Dave Bautista) is an older cop: we first see him with his cocky young partner Sara (Karen Gillan) who is promptly killed, setting up Vic's desperate need to catch Tedjo. Tedjo is played by Iko Uwais: an Indonesian martial artist who speaks maybe two words of dialogue despite perhaps ten minutes of screen time. Fast forward: Vic has Lasik surgery and immediately gets a hot tip on Tedjo's next drug drop. Because he's nearly blind from the Lasik, he calls an Uber. He gets the fussy and over-sharing Stu. Much mileage is had from Vic's blindness as he stumbles over things: I found Bautista surprisingly funny doing the physical comedy. On the other hand, Nanjiani's fastidious schtick ("can I offer you bottled water? Don't spill stuff in my car, it's a lease") wasn't funny when it started and quickly grew very tiresome. Despite which, they made a decent comedic team. It deserves its rather poor ratings, but some people will enjoy it.