If there’s one genre of film that Hollywood as an industry stays away from, it’s Christian films.

To say Hollywood despises Christians is like saying Bills fans don’t like Tom Brady. There’s no better example of the rift between critics and audiences than watching Rotten Tomatoes’ score of any Christian film. You can’t expect those who believe children ages 4-8 may be transgender to have a favorable view of Christ, that goes without saying.

Mark Wahlberg learned this lesson the hard way when he was forced to pass millions dollars to fund the movie “Father Stu” because he couldn’t find a backer to fund the project.

Wahlberg spoke of his problems with financing the film: “I slipped the script to a few people who I thought might get it, and they didn’t. And of course, it’s subjective. You have your own impression of what the material is. Some people thought it was depressing because he’s sick at the end. They haven’t seen the heart and the emotion and ultimately how inspiring it is.

He decided to take the same bet his co-star Mel Gibson did when Gibson invested $30 million of his own money to finance “The Passion of the Christ,” which became the highest-grossing Christian film of all. weather.

While “Father Stu” likely won’t achieve the success that Mel Gibson has established, Mark Wahlberg’s passion project hopes to shed some light on the untold story of Father Stuart Long.

The story

In the 1980s, Wahlberg played Stuart Long, a failed boxer who was forced into retirement due to multiple injuries. Stu has a distant relationship with his father Bill (Mel Gibson) and a difficult relationship with his mother (Jacki Weaver).

Stu decides to try his hand at acting, so he packs his bags and moves to Los Angeles with the dream of being a TV star. Stu’s plans don’t materialize as he gets hit on by a male casting agent.

Things go wrong until the day when, working in the meat department, he meets a Hispanic woman named Carmen (Teresa Ruiz). Stu desperately tries to get a date but Carmen isn’t interested in a man who doesn’t share her faith so he decides to follow her to church.

Stu begins to take an interest in the Word of God and begins to change his life until a life-changing event prompts him to head down a new path. Stu decides to become a priest at the protest of his parents and his new love. However, he’s convinced it’s his destiny and dives headfirst into his new found faith until another curveball threatens to end his journey before it begins.

bright spots

‘Father Stu’ as a film is a character study about a man whose faith is tested in a way few have ever experienced. Wahlberg plays an arrogant but determined man whose ambitions consume his daily life for better or worse. Despite his faults, he is a man who refuses to accept the idea of ​​failure until the day his body abandons him.

When her quest begins, no one believes her faith to be true, but at the end of her journey, they are surprised at how strong she is. The movie has an endless supply of drama that you wouldn’t have believed if it wasn’t a true story.

Stu faces the challenge of coping with his deadbeat father, the loss of his boxing career, a terrible accident, and then a life-changing illness in just a few years. The film’s journey goes through a series of life-changing events and lessons learned along the way.

Mel Gibson is in the film as Stu’s father and it’s safe to say that Gibson puts more heart into his performance given the subject matter. Gibson plays a vital role as a father who navigates his own difficult journey through the events of his son. Both actors’ performances are strong enough, and Wahlberg shows his commitment to the role by earning £30 to portray Stu in the film.

Weak points

The film’s biggest sticking point is the overall pacing. The film sets up four distinct chapters in Stu’s life. Each chapter contains about 30 minutes of detail, bringing the runtime to over 2 hours, while a 15-20 minute edit cleanup could have improved the quality of the film.

For a passion project, Wahlberg wanted to give as much detail as possible about Stu’s life, but he would have done better to focus more on the ongoing story. Another issue in the storytelling is that the film doesn’t spend as much time on the impact of Stu as a priest.

The film chooses to focus on Stu’s path to redemption instead of his impact on the lives of members of his community, which is a missed opportunity to have a more lasting impact on the viewer.

The film makes for a great origin story, but leaves a lot on the table that could have had a deeper connection with the audience.

The verdict

“Father Stu” seeks to be an inspirational story about one man’s strength in his faith, and the film achieves this with solid performances and a solid script. While far from being the best Christian film, “Father Stu” is one of the best efforts the genre has produced in recent years.

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