Comedy takes aim at police violence
‘Stuber’ stars say cop movies can address excessive force responsibly while still entertaining
The buddycop movie isn’t a new concept, but most of its popular comedic subgenre has managed to avoid talking about gun violence and police brutality.
“Stuber,” however, makes a brief, oneline mention of the topic. The comedyaction movie set for release on Friday, July 12, is about an Uber driver named Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) who unwillingly plays chauffeur to a cop’s (Dave Bautista) mission. As Bautista’s character, Vic, is in the middle of forcefully questioning Amo Cortez (Rene Moran), Cortez shouts out, “This is police brutality!” before being thrown in the back of Stu’s car.
It raises the question of how to responsibly confront violence in film, particularly in a comedyaction movie. During a recent visit to San Francisco, Nanjiani — who was also in town to perform at the Clusterfest comedy festival — and Natalie Morales, who plays Vic’s daughter Nicole, discussed the depictions of excessive force in “Stuber” and navigating fraught topics in a humorous movie.
“I don’t think you can have a movie about a cop right now and not talk about” police brutality, said Nanjiani. “I feel like every day you see videos that are horrifying.”
At one point in the film, Vic presses down on Cortez’s bullet wound — which Stu accidentally inflicted earlier in the movie — in order to get answers. Stu protests, suggesting a nonaggressive form of interrogation instead.
“I think the best we could do is show a cop who sort of has that mindset, and have him realize that he’s doing things wrong,” Nanjiani said. “Or at least see
there’s another way of doing it.”
Part of what drew Nanjiani to “Stuber” was the chance to explore the concept of masculinity and “the problems it’s caused, in the world in general, and to women, and to men themselves.” For Vic, that manifests in his police work, most clearly in the aggression he has towards the people he apprehends.
“Even though these people are ‘bad guys,’ ” Nanjiani said, “some of the ways they’re treated are ...”
“Excessive. It’s excessive force,” said Morales, finishing Nanjiani’s sentence.
“It’s not right,” Nanjiani continued, “and that’s the hard thing now. I feel like we’re at a time when a character does something in a movie, people see it as the movie endorsing those actions. But that’s not true. A movie’s job is to also show a perspective that it doesn’t agree with.”
Representing violence in a movie that is rife with shootouts and explosions was something the actors had to grapple with, particularly for Morales, who works with an organization aimed at ending gun violence in America.
“I work with Everytown for Gun Safety a lot, and I have to shoot a gun in this movie at some point,” Morales said. “Any movie that has depictions of gun violence is something that I’m concerned about in my head, and I want to be sure that I’m being responsible with that message.”
Both actors stressed their belief in responsible gun ownership. Nanjiani also pointed out that it was important for them to have differing perspectives on gun use.
“When we went to do the poster shoot actually, they had guns for both of us to hold, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to hold a gun. I don’t think this guy holds a gun,’” Nanjiani said. “That’s the opposite of what this movie is about.”
Ultimately, the goal was simply to make a “theater, popcorn movie,” Nanjiani added, a respite during difficult times.
“I hope the takeaway is just a really fun, unexpected time,” Morales said.