Film Review: Father Stu

Mark Wahlberg as Father Stu

I don’t pretend to know anything about priests, boxers or anybody in Montana.

But most of us remember a time when we were trying to figure out what to do with our lives.

First-time director/screenwriter Rosalind Ross’ “Father Stu” opens with a boxer (Mark Wahlberg), who seems to be getting the worst of every encounter in the ring. This is Stuart Long, a burly guy who is advised against boxing by a doctor who tells him the infections he’s been getting after fights could lead to something serious.

So he gives that up and announces to his mother (Jacki Weaver) that he’s going to Los Angeles to become an actor. There, instead of making it big in film, he goes for an audition, gets propositioned (haha) and ends up working in a supermarket.

One day he goes to church, where he sees a girl he’d seen before but not managed to talk to. This is Carmen (Teresa Ruiz), and when he finds out she is Catholic and teaches Sunday school at the local church, he volunteers to help. Right, he’ll be a great help.

Stu’s dad Bill (Mel Gibson) shows up from time to time to remind Stu what a disappointment he is. I tend to agree with Bill, and by now I’m disappointed enough to want to escape from the theater, but I decide to stay to see if there’s any scrap of inspiration to be seen.

Stu does finally decide to become Catholic (taking off way more clothes than necessary to be baptized), and then a priest, and then is slowed down and finally killed by the infection we heard about earlier. But we get precious little dedication to anything other than the quick laugh, because Ross’ script wants so badly to be a comedy that any corny joke will do.

I must say it was a pleasure to see Mel Gibson on the screen again. He was terrific, and so was Ruiz as the girlfriend. 

There is a real story here, but I had to look it up after I got home. You will too, and I advise it because the real Father Stu was quite a gem. But don’t expect inspiration from this film.