Father Stu

Father Stu is a surface level biofilm that tells the story of the real life priest Stuart Long in a familiar and disappointing way.  While it has a lot more "F-Bombs" in its dialogue than your usual faith-based drama (Hence, the film's R-rating.), like a lot of movies about faith and religion, it seems to be preaching to the converted, rather than trying to draw newcomers.

Mark Whalberg, who plays Stuart, has wanted to bring Long's story to the big screen for a long time, and I'm sure getting this movie made was a dream for him.  But, the end result is all too familiar in how it simply touches upon its themes and characters, rather than truly digging into them and creating a dramatically satisfying narrative.  The movie breezes over such dramatically-rich material such as Stuart growing up with a younger brother who died and left his family broken, and how he was never able to quite connect with his alcoholic and verbally abusive father, Bill (Mel Gibson).  Stu has struggled to make a name for himself his whole life, first as an amateur boxer, then when he can't do that anymore, he moves to Hollywood in order to become an actor.  All of this simply happens in the screenplay by writer-director Rosalind Ross with such broad strokes that they simply don't land like they should.

While Stu is working the deli counter at a supermarket, he happens to see a beautiful young Mexican woman named Carmen (Teresa Ruiz).  Instantly smitten, and soon learning that she is Catholic, he begins going to church on a regular basis in order to get closer to her.  Then he suffers a near-fatal motorcycle accident one night, and while waiting for help to arrive, he has a vision of the Virgin Mary comforting him.  When he comes out of his eventual coma, he feels that he has a higher purpose when it comes to serving God, and decides that he wants to be a priest.  When he tells his mother (Jackie Weaver) about this, she delivers the film's best line, when she asks if he means he wants to be a priest for Halloween.  The odds are stacked against Stu as he enters the seminary, and he will have to face even greater challenges when he is diagnosed with a rare muscle disease that slowly shuts down his body over time.

Again, I wanted to be swept away by the emotions that are inherent in this story, but Father Stu never truly gets to the heart, and simply has these characters talking about their hardships rather than truly showing them.  The film is never boring, and has been made capably with top talent, but it's all at the service of a script that does not rise to the level we know it can.  Each time Stu is hit with some kind of roadblock or hardship, the movie just skims the surface, and never truly explores how it impacts him, or the people around him.  All of Stu's key relationships in the film with his mother, father, and Carmen seem truncated.  When he decides to join the priesthood, this obviously puts Carmen in a tough position, as she wants to marry him by this point.  And yet, she kind of disappears from the movie once he makes this announcement.  Yes, she pops up now and then, and we can see that there is support mixed with regret, but the movie never digs into this to make the character as complex as we know she could be.

Wahlberg elevates this material the best that he can with his performance, and manages to bring Stu to life, but he is the only one who gives us a clear picture of who he really is.  All the supporting characters are merely trotted out once in a while, and we just get hints of what they are feeling.  And while Wahlberg succeeds at portraying Stu in different stages of life and declining health, I never got a true sense of his spiritual journey.  We see him get a couple scenes where he angrily asks why this had to happen to him, but it's not enough.  This movie needed to really dig into this guy, because what's on the screen is fascinating, but not enough to truly get the audience behind him.  I kind of wanted to be watching a documentary on the real person.  It would probably be more hard-hitting than this Hollywood effort, and give us a better sense of his spirituality.

Father Stu does have moments where it hits hard, but not as many as it should.  It's a movie content to just give us the bare pieces of the story, leaving the audience to ponder what's been left out.  This Stuart Long sounds like a fascinating guy.  They should make a better movie about him one day.

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