{"id":24630,"date":"2022-04-13T01:37:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T08:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=24630"},"modified":"2022-04-13T01:37:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T08:37:13","slug":"father-stu-leaves-viewers-with-more-questions-than-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=24630","title":{"rendered":"FATHER STU Leaves Viewers with More Questions Than Answers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/24_0006_C+-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7079\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This film from Sony Pictures is currently playing exclusively\nat movie theaters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the Easter holiday approaching, the new biopic <em>Father Stu<\/em> tells a very unusual story about a troubled boxer who ultimately became a Catholic priest, finding renewal and purpose in his life helping to serve others within his congregation. The feature was funded in part by the star of the film and its message of redemption is well-intentioned. It boasts strong performances and is better than many other religious-themed titles. However, the film also sermonizes too bluntly and ultimately wears out its welcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Father-Stu-05-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24631\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After his boxing career stalls and he is forced to retire,\nimpulsive and hard-living Stuart Long (Mark Wahlberg) decides to leave his\nMontana home. His plan involves moving to Los Angeles and becoming a movie\nstar, much to the chagrin of his mother Kathleen (Jacki Weaver) and estranged father,\nBill (Mel Gibson). Without any acting experience, he finds life in Hollywood\nmore difficult than anticipated. After visiting a church, Stuart becomes\nsmitten with devout Catholic Carmen (Teresa Ruiz), but his reckless and\nself-destructive ways cause trouble in their relationship. After a traumatic\nincident, the protagonist has a vision and becomes determined to attend\nseminary school and become a priest. His path becomes even harder after being\ndiagnosed with Inclusion-Body Myositis, a disease that causes progressive\nmuscle weakness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Father-Stu-02-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24632\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first half of the movie veers in different directions as\nthe unfocused lead follows ever-changing goals. It results in a rather episodic\nfeel to the proceedings, but at least the Stuart\u2019s story is unique. Wahlberg\nimpressively undergoes a physical transformation over a period of several years\nin the character\u2019s life. He also makes the most of the protagonist\u2019s matter-of-fact\napproach to life and desire to needle everyone from his father to the priests\nhe meets. It is amusing to watch the character use foul language in these\nexchanges, resulting in some entertaining reactions from reserved figures\nattempting to deal with his direct observations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stuart\u2019s interactions with his dumbfounded parents also result in a few funny jabs. But the film\u2019s most gladdening surprise is the appearance of acting veteran Malcolm McDowell as a conservative monsignor. It\u2019s an unusual casting choice given the performer\u2019s history of playing intense and intimidating characters (among them, the lead in Stanley Kubrick\u2019s <em>A Clockwork Orange<\/em>). While McDowell doesn\u2019t appear until the second half of the film, seeing him take on a very different role does make an immediate impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Father-Stu-04-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24634\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, as previously mentioned, the central figure\u2019s random\nflights of fancy, mood swings and holy visions cause plenty of story issues. In\nfact, this representation of Stuart Long may actually leave viewers wondering\nif he hadn\u2019t suffered from bipolar disorder or a similar illness. His behavior\nis at times remarkably selfish and has terrible ramifications for those who\ncare about him. The supporting players do make cracks about Stuart\u2019s mindset\nand the film tries to sell his missteps as important moments on his journey to\nrecovery, but it\u2019s still a tough sell. Additionally, the movie and characters never\ninterpret his visions from above or motivation to become a priest as anything other\nthan divine inspiration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And, as Stuart finds redemption serving the church (even while dealing with a crippling disease) and begins to share his faith and wisdom to others, the movie begins to preach more than attempt to analyze the fascinating life of a complicated figure.<em> Father Stu<\/em> will certainly appeal to its core demographic. It has its heart in the right place and the cast manage to give the story some zip. However, this telling ultimately falters as it progresses and ends up leaving this reviewer with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This film from Sony Pictures is currently playing exclusively at movie theaters. With the Easter holiday approaching, the new biopic Father Stu tells a very unusual story about a troubled boxer who ultimately became a Catholic priest, finding renewal and purpose in his life helping to serve others within his congregation. The feature was funded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,4011,6251,7357,7358,7359,7360,10131,12969,13270,13654,16363,16844,19231,19729,23321],"class_list":["post-24630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-catholic","tag-drama","tag-father-stu","tag-father-stu-film-review","tag-father-stu-movie-review","tag-father-stu-review","tag-jacki-weaver","tag-malcolm-mcdowell","tag-mark-wahlberg","tag-mel-gibson","tag-priest","tag-religious","tag-stuart-long","tag-teresa-ruiz","tag-true-story"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}