Father Stu Review

Just in time for Easter, “Father Stu” follows the inspiring, real-life journey of Father Stuart Long. First-time film writer/director, Rosalind Ross, presented “Father Stu” with quite a bit of style, especially for a film of this type. Though the film’s narrative and dialogue is a bit cliché and on-the-nose at times, I was pleasantly surprised by the film for the most part.

It’s apparent due to the press run that Academy Award nominee, Mark Wahlberg, was very passionate about the role of Father Stuart Long. He’s quite good here. It’s a breath of fresh air to see Wahlberg not in an action film or comedy. His performance evolves well throughout the film due to the evolution and degradation of Father Stu’s health. Wahlberg transitions from a brash, self-centered wannabe actor to an aspiring priest struggling with a degenerative muscle disease really well. The practical effects applied to Walhberg in the third act were also quite good.

The story and general theme of the film, “don’t let your past define your future,” is quite cliché and has been done before. However, it is still a good theme to have present in a film about redemption and faith. I do wish the film would have leaned more towards other themes such as “who is worthy of spreading the gospel?” and the general questioning of authority that it sets up at points throughout the film. Seeing Father Stu struggle with those would have been more interesting.

I think the biggest compliment I can give this film is that it balances telling a story and commenting on religion better than most Christian/Catholic films that I have seen in the past. The problem a lot of films in this genre fall into is being overly preachy and abandoning depicting characters as real people. “Father Stu”, while not being very subtle, is still much better than your run-of-the-mill religious film.

Obviously, this does not compare to masterpieces dealing with religion such as Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” or Paul Schrader’s, “First Reformed”. However, this is much better than “God’s Not Dead”.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the cinematography and lighting present here. Though it is not anything jaw-dropping, it felt purposefully shot and lit throughout the film. There were some purposefully placed close-up and extreme close-up shots that conveyed the drama exceptionally well.

Though I give “Father Stu” credit for not being extremely overt in its messaging, it’s still fairly contrived at points. Particularly, the film feels like it’s trying too hard to be an “edgy Catholic film”. It’s as if Rosalind Ross is trying to say, “Yeah, we’re cool. We swear and talk about stuff other Christian/Catholic films don’t.” However, it just comes off as being edgy for the sake of being edgy. If she would have been a bit more subtle with the dialogue, the film would have benefited greatly.

It’s a double-edged sword, though. I do like that Ross wasn’t afraid to add characters being flawed and saying things that characters in these types of films don’t typically say. However, she was a bit heavy-handed for my liking. as well as Father Stu being in a coma, are glazed over almost completely. It felt jarring in the overall pacing of the film.

This is also due to the fact that “Father Stu” is a bit too long. Being just over two hours, it could have easily been trimmed down a bit.

Overall, “Father Stu” is not perfect by any means. However, I can see a lot of people enjoying this film. It’s fairly well shot and directed, especially for a religious-centric film. The cast, especially Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson and Malcom McDowell, are all pretty good here. 5.5 out of 10.

The pacing and overall length leaves plenty to be desired. Honestly, the film’s structure in general felt off to me. Some plot beats, such as the early stages of Father Stu’s relationship with Teresa Ruiz’s character, Carmen, as well as Father Stu being in a coma, are glazed over almost completely. It felt jarring in the overall pacing of the film.

This is also due to the fact that “Father Stu” is a bit too long. Being just over two hours, it could have easily been trimmed down a bit.

Overall, “Father Stu” is not perfect by any means. However, I can see a lot of people enjoying this film. It’s fairly well shot and directed, especially for a religious-centric film. The cast, especially Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson and Malcom McDowell, are all pretty good here.

5.5/10