El milagro del padre Stu

An absolute home run in terms of character study and storytelling. This is hard-nosed faith based done right. It's an amazing amalgam of old school grit and honest reflection. It will forever hold the record for cussing and f-bombs for this subject matter. And, that's a good thing. The entire first act is set up and not what was expected at all. Back when awards actually mattered, Mark Wahlberg would have been a serious Oscar contender for his performance in this film. He, honest to God, (literally) delivers a masterpiece performance. His weight gain alone showed his commitment to doing justice to this work. Fr. Stu was an amazing individual whose growth and gifts through suffering will forever inspire those who watch this movie with an open heart and mind. A forever immortal that I personally will never forget thanks to this film.

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.

Truth is stranger than fiction. I enjoyed the film but wish there had been subtitles. Sometimes some of the characters mumbled so much that even though there were extreme close ups with no distractions, many times I was unable to understand what was being said. I began to wonder if there was something wrong with my ability to follow the movie until afterward when I went in the restroom, I heard everyone in there saying the same thing. Probably some of the problem might have had to do with unfamiliar slang but most of it was the way the words were enunciated. Don't let that stop you from seeing it though. It is still worth seeing.

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.