Father Stu – A Manufactured Inspirational Tale

Whether or not one is religious, it is still there across our everyday lives which includes film. A large and devoted audience to tap into, films continue to be made to cater to them but to their credit, they continue to support them. By no means is that a testament (pun intended) to their quality because it’s all about the messaging. Meanwhile, some are based on a true story as a means to reinforce a particular message. At the end of the day, success is dictated on that connection to that message. When it comes to Father Stu, a religious drama based on a true story, that was arguably not the case. That being said, some will inevitably still connect with it in spite of its issues. The film merely stumbles through a derivative inspirational story centered around an irritating main character whose problematic nature only undercuts its message as it checks boxes by going from one plot beat to the next. Though the ultimate goal is to manipulate emotions, it can’t even do that right as a result of the titular character.

Father Stu follows the journey of a Montana man named Stuart Long (Wahlberg), an aging and self-destructing boxer, to find some purpose as he approaches his final act. Not a perfect person by any means, he definitely made some mistakes and said a lot of wrong things along the way as he just never seemed to know when or how to quit which was something that often got him in trouble. Eventually, he needed to move on and find something else to do with his life but it just wouldn’t be anything. Surviving on charm and perhaps misguided dedication, Long found himself in California attempting a career in acting. His plans changed upon meeting a woman named Carmen (Teresa Ruiz) who was also a devout Catholic. Getting closer to her would take a little more than usual, however, Long still found a way to stumble through that in his own irritating way. Nevertheless, by getting closer to her, he also got closer to God though he also had to convince the rest of her congregation of his reformed ways.

Father Stu is all about Long’s journey over the course of the film. The problem with that is that he definitely didn’t make it easy to invest in that journey because he’s so irritating as a character. Finding God, he eventually embraced the title in which the film takes its name. This final journey would be a fight like none other to be accepted amongst his peers in spite of his many glaring thoughts. Contrary to belief, his abrasive outsider-ness somehow brought a different perspective to the table that the Catholic church never knew it needed to get through to the people of the time. Inserting some family drama to create a contrast between the worlds Long was part of as his mother Kathleen (Weaver) and his deadbeat father Bill (Gibson) popped in and out to ground him and/or make painful wisecracks and nothing more. Ultimately, those familiar with the true story more or less know how this ends but that emotion was unearned to say the least based on the film’s failure to provide enough reason to care.

In terms of performances, the actors for the most part were simply going through the motions which did not inspire much excitement but the script also didn’t do them any favors. If they don’t care then why should we? The epitome of that was Wahlberg who once again plays the same kind of character he’s played countless times before however less interested. While Weaver was there, Gibson was marginally the better of the three by showing any ounce of personality even though his lines were painful.

Regardless of this not so positive review, Father Stu still has or will find an audience. Suffice it to say that those who are not fans of religious-themed will be changing their minds after this one but most of them will probably stay away.

still courtesy of Sony Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.