As I am a huge fan of Mark Wahlberg, Father Stu was a movie I was pretty pumped about checking out. It is a more dramatic role for Wahlberg and getting this on the big screen has been a real passion project for him. So much so that from what I understand, he financed a huge chunk of this movie himself as he believed in it that much.
How to Stream or Download Father Stu
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital store. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like Mark Wahlberg, check him out also in other films – Uncharted (2022), Instant Family (2018), Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), or Max Payne (2008).
The Movie Review
I will admit that while this is a biopic, I do not think I could have been more ignorant about the fascinating and inspiring life of Father Stu Long. He was a priest before he passed away back in 2014 and he lived a truly remarkable life. However, the story of how he was led to becoming a man of the cloth is just as interesting as the good that he did while he was a priest
Stu Long was a boxer from a pretty rough background and he had his fair share of problems. After his boxing career is cut short, Stu decides he is heading West to become an actor and he takes a job at a store until he makes it. It is while working at the store he meets a remarkable woman in Carmen. He really takes a shine to her, but she is not won over by his bad-boy charm that the ladies usually like!
Carmen has a really strong faith and she refuses to have anything to do with Stu unless he gets baptized, he goes along with it as he really likes her. Stu after some hard drinking ends up in a horrific motorcycle accident and it is here, that he is touched by God as has an experience as he is laying near death that tells him his purpose is to become a priest.
He decides to start walking down the path that will see him become a priest, he meets two other would-be priests in Ham and Jacob, one is a friend and one is a rival to him. Now you may think that the movie from here on out is just all about Stu becoming a priest, but that is not the case.
Stu has another hardship he must face. He ends up diagnosed with a very nasty muscular disease that there is no cure for. While he feels a bit hard done at first, he realizes this is just another sign and a step for him to become a man that can inspire and help others, it is very powerful and heartbreaking stuff. I think the fact that Stu has such a great sense of humor and a really good spirit makes you connect with him even more.
The acting in Father Stu is great. Mark Wahlberg does a great job he looks so different here, you can tell he took this role incredibly seriously. The supporting cast with the likes of Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver, Teresa Ruiz, Cody Fern, and Aaron Moten all deliver fantastic performances in this movie as well.
I thought that Father Stu was a very well-made movie. The story it tells really does grab you, it makes you laugh, makes you sad and it makes you want to believe in the good of people too. I am not sure it is the kind of movie I would watch again, however; I was very entertained from start to end.
