Dave Bautista Will Defend His 43% RT Action Comedy "To My Death"
Most stars quietly sidestep the movies that didn't hit. Dave Bautista (movies and tv series) does the opposite. He's still going to bat for Stuber - the 2019 buddy-cop comedy sitting at 43% on Rotten Tomatoes - and he says he'll defend it "to my death."
That's not bluster. It's loyalty. And it tells you a lot about how he works, and who he trusts.
Why Bautista won't let Stuber go
While promoting his new action-thriller Trap House, Bautista lit up when the conversation turned to director Michael Dowse. The movie nearly lost its start date after the original director dropped out. Bautista made a call.
"He saved us," Bautista said. "He stepped in a couple weeks before we were supposed to start filming… I think he was on a plane the next day… He's got a clear vision. He knows what he's doing." And then the line that sticks: "I will go to my death saying that is an underrated film."
For him, it's simple. Dowse delivered under pressure once, so Bautista brought him back. That's how Trap House happened.
What Stuber did - and didn't - do
On paper, Stuber is a clean, crowd-pleasing setup: Kumail Nanjiani (movies and tv series) plays Stu, an Uber driver who gets swept up in a day-from-hell ride with Bautista's Vic, a bruising LAPD detective. Their chemistry landed. The direction took some heat.
Critics were split, and the Tomatometer reflects it. Stuber sits at 43% today, a number that stings but doesn't tell the whole story. If you want the receipts, here's the page: Rotten Tomatoes - Stuber.
The box office was middling too - $32.3 million worldwide on an $18 million budget - the kind of run that makes a film fade fast in a busy summer. Numbers here: Box Office Mojo.
Why this matters now
Trap House puts Bautista and Dowse back on the same team. This time, Bautista's a DEA agent, Ray Seale, trying to stop his teenage son and his friends from ripping off a cartel. Same sharp premise energy as Stuber, less winking, more heat.
Here's what this could mean: if Trap House connects, the Stuber conversation changes. People revisit. They notice the timing, the tone, the rhythm of Dowse's action-comedy instincts tucked inside a broader studio push.
The bigger read for action watchers
Bautista's stance isn't just nostalgia for an old credit. It's a signal to collaborators: show up when it's messy, get invited back when it matters. Studios like that story. Audiences do too - it feels honest.
And look, Stuber may never sit next to Dune or Guardians on a Bautista highlight reel. But the way he talks about it - the way he owns it - gives the movie a pulse again. That's how reappraisals start, one stubborn defense at a time.
