Father Stu

This isn't exactly a bio-pic, it leaves lots of things out and fictionalizes a few things, but it is a mostly true account of Stuart Long who grew up as a crude, rough and tumble type of athlete and high-ranking boxer in Montana.

At some point he decides to go to Los Angeles and become an actor. With no real preparation and no plan he is a bust. Then after losing his drivers license and resorting to a motorcycle for transportation, he is in an accident that almost kills him. However through it all has a religious experience and decides to become a Catholic priest.

His road is never easy, and things go from pretty bad to a lot worse. Still through discernment and a stroke of good fortune he became a priest at the age of 34. He developed a novel way to connect with people.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library. Good movie and the actors are all first-rate in their roles, especially Wahlberg and Gibson.

Father Stu

This was a good old fashion story of redemption. Mark Wahlberg played Stuart Long a washed up boxer who really hits rock bottom after a dreadful accident.

Stu sees his life being spared as a message and a call to the priesthood. There were some clunky moments but mostly these were the scripts writers fault and perhaps needing editing out.

We had some great acting and some brilliant cameos. Like a Tom Cruise or Liam Neeson movie Mark Wahlberg always delivers a strong and committed characterisation. I think he is long overdue for an Oscar winning role.

Overall I enjoyed this movie and it's a firm 6 outta 10 from me.

I very much enjoyed this film and don't understand why it is rated as low as it is by critics. It is definitely Wahlberg's best performance of the films I've seen. The other performance I liked was Gibson. He plays his father and is a alcoholic due to the loss of his youngest son and drinks the trauma away. He plays the role so well and I really sympathised with him, cared deeply for his character and wanted him to rekindle his connection with his son Stu. His performance reminds me of Nick Nolte in Warrior who also plays a broken and drunken father. The overall plot was engaging and never felt dragged out, this was due to there being a decent amount of screen time of each major part of his life. This for me made the changes he goes through feel even more powerful because as soon as you understand more about this character a life changing event happens to Stu and he progresses as a character even further. The cinematography was pretty standard with some nice shots here and there but for the most part it was what you would expect for a Hollywood film.

I think everyone would enjoy this film especially since it's based on a true story which always hooks me in a whole lot more for a film of this theme.

Yes, Wahlberg deserves a nomination for this. I'm not a practicing Catholic but I was definitely moved. It's more than some "faith based" movie. A lot of good performances. Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver were excellent. But it's not trendy to recommend a movie like this. That's why the critics really didn't give it fair shake. I think what I liked about Father Stu is that it addresses the nature of suffering. Why do we suffer? That's what makes it profound by the end.

Stuart Long was the kind of man you had to make a movie about and who better to play him than the great Mark Wahlberg. I'll be honest I was blown away with the weight gain Wahlberg went through for this movie as well as the raw emotions shown within it. Mel Gibson is also a great actor that needed the right redemption to truly remind us why we call these men actors, I was very intrigued within the story, I do like a good true story film and this one was remarkable. This movie did a great job highlighting the disease inclusion body myositis, a degenerative muscle disease that renders him disabled but that does not stop his awakening to his great spiritual journey.

I really enjoyed everything about this film, they did a phenomenal job at everything, the plot, the abilities, the awareness, the fact the man was a boxer turned priest is mindblowing but this indeed was a perfect film with a perfect cast and crew. Stuart Long would have loved seeing this film may he rest in peace, it really is a masterpiece, I'd highly recommend checking this one out!