It’s impossible to categorise Mark Wahlberg. From tough crime thrillers and true-life dramas, to comedies and action adventures, he’s done the lot — and a few more.
One that his many fans took to their heart and which, like the actor himself, doesn’t conveniently fit into any particular genre, arrives on Prime Video today [Monday, August 11] and shows us his softer side. Meet Father Stu.
He starts life as Stu Long, the son of a less-than-attentive father (Mel Gibson) and a kind but ineffectual mother (Jacki Weaver). Try as he might, Stu (Wahlberg) can never win his father’s approval and grows up to be a boxer. It's not an especially successful career move: regularly injured, he only wins a few trophies and even less money, despite a determination to make it in the ring.
Calling a halt to boxing, he turns his attention to another dream, this time to be a movie star, and heads for Hollywood. Enjoying the bars and company of beautiful girls in Tinseltown, he’s drawn to Carmen (Teresa Ruiz), who is very involved in the Catholic Church. To get close to her, he pretends to share her faith but, after a serious motorcycle accident and a moment of revelation, he realises he’s being called to the priesthood.
The journey from boxer to priest received a lukewarm response from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, they only gave it 42% but audiences saw it totally differently, buying into the movie’s inspirational tone and religious messages. Their verdict was 95% and it’s become a much-loved favourite among Wahlberg’s fans. Many of them praised a performance that brought authenticity to a moving experience. It was also very much a personal project for the actor, who both produced and spent “millions and millions of dollars” of his own money when no other financial backer could be found.
With a modest budget, it took a respectable £21.6 million at the global box office.
But neither the real story or the movie ends with the decision to become a priest. As he embarks on his new life, Stu is diagnosed with a rare muscle condition, changing his life all over again. Now he has to find a way of living with his disease while pursuing his vocation as a priest. The real Stuart Long/Father Stu died in 2014, just seven years after his ordination, and the film’s final moments show us the real man in footage from the later years in his life.
Wahlberg is no stranger to films based on true stories. One of his biggest critical successes, The Fighter (2010), also had a boxing setting and saw him playing light welterweight Micky Ward, whose road to a world title was overseen by his former-boxer brother, Dicky (Christian Bale) whose drug addiction threatened to sabotage his ambitions. While most of the acting honours, Oscars included, went to Bale and co-star Melissa Leo, Wahlberg received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.
And just a few years later, he was named Best Actor in an Action Movie for Lone Survivor (2013), which also won Best Action Movie at the same ceremony. The powerful war drama saw Wahlberg play Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell, who led a team sent to capture or kill a notorious Taliban leader in 2005. When their mission doesn’t go according to plan, they have to fight for their lives in one of modern warfare’s most remarkable acts of survival.
The actor’s more emotional side was on show in Joe Bell (2020). He played the title role, a father who walked across America to raise awareness about bullying and suicide in memory of his teenage son, who was bullied for being gay and died by suicide as a result. Once again, audiences embraced the film, giving it 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, warming to its heartfelt message and positive outlook on life.
Father Stu isn’t a conventional faith-based movie, but it’s a reminder that there’s more to Wahlberg than action movies and adult comedies. Sure, he can play for laughs, but he can also take on powerfully emotional roles, often based on true stories, and go straight for the audience’s heartstrings. He rarely misses.
Father Stu is on Prime Video in the US and UK now.
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