Father Stu

"God wanted a fighter… and He found one."

2022 2h 4m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

★7.1TMDB · 767

Drama

Synopsis

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The true-life story of boxer-turned-priest. When an injury ends his amateur boxing career, Stuart Long moves to Los Angeles to find money and fame. While scraping by as a supermarket clerk, he meets Carmen, a Sunday school teacher who seems immune to his bad-boy charm. Determined to win her over, the longtime agnostic starts going to church to impress her. However, a motorcycle accident leaves him wondering if he can use his second chance to help others, leading to the surprising realization that he's meant to be a Catholic priest.

“God wanted a fighter… and He found one.”

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Cast

Mark Wahlberg
Father Stuart 'Stu' Long
Mel Gibson
Bill Long
Jacki Weaver
Kathleen Long
Teresa Ruiz
Carmen
Malcolm McDowell
Monsignor Kelly
Annet Mahendru
Mary
Cody Fern
Priest
Winter Ave Zoli
Allison

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rosalind Ross
Writers: Rosalind Ross
Languages: English, Portuguese
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 4 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Portuguese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rosalind Ross, shot by Jacques Jouffret. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jeffrey M. Werner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson and Jacki Weaver carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rosalind Ross directs. Jacques Jouffret behind the camera. Dickon Hinchliffe scores. Jeffrey M. Werner cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Portuguese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 5.4× over at the box office.
3Released 4 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Portuguese.
5Directed by Rosalind Ross, shot by Jacques Jouffret. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jeffrey M. Werner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson and Jacki Weaver carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "God wanted a fighter… and He found one.".
10IMDB entry: tt14439896 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jacques Jouffret
Original score: Dickon Hinchliffe
Editing: Jeffrey M. Werner
Production design: David Meyer
Costume design: Lisa Norcia
Makeup / hair: Claudia Humburg
Sound: Craig Mann
Runtime: 124 min · 2h 4m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,000,000
Box office: $21,591,034
Return: 540% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Father Stu (2022)

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Spencer2022-05-15
★ 5/10
Let me start off by saying that I completely understand all of the hate this film is getting, and that's because for the first half of the film I hated it too. For too much of this film, a lot of the characters are just unlikable slobs . . . especially Mel Gibson's character of Bill Long. Also, the story plays out . . . well, it plays out terribly for the first half of the film. It wasn't until later in the film when Stuart Long decides to become a preacher that I was actually invested, and why's that? That's because Long was an absolute piece of trash that I didn't want to watch for the first half of the film. This does not go without saying that by the end I liked Stuart Long's character in the film, but I couldn't like him for the first half. The film isn't precisely terrible, but it isn't good. The third act is solid, but everything in the first act is bad, and the second where Stu is transitioning is mediocre. This does not make for a good film. When the film is simply bad for the first two acts, it can't just make up for it with a good third act, which sucks because the third act was actually not too bad. The entire path of redemption message is interesting, but we've seen it done before, and with much better characters to say the least, but of course, this isn't saying that the path to redemption is bad to watch, but it is still bland and has been done multiple times before. It was nice to see Bill Long become a semi-decent human being at the end of the film, because he realizes he has to now actually care for his son, Stu, but it doesn't really redeem him as a character within the film's boundaries. Also, Bill's character is an absolute D-bag throughout most of the film, so it makes it extremely hard to like him as a character by the end of the film . . . but, boy, if seeing that final dance with his wife wasn't something. . . . Forgiveness is really what's at the core of "Father Stu", but I've already covered that previously. What I'm trying to talk about here is how almost all the characters have something they want to be forgiven for. Bill & Kathleen Long do seem to regret their choices that brought them to this point in their lives, and it's clear that they regret whatever tore them apart. As for Stu, he wants to be forgiven for everything. He regrets just about everything he's done in his life up to this point. The sad part about it is: There's just too much that Stu's done for the audience to really forgive him completely, although it is terrible what happened to him. In my eyes, "Father Stu" isn't absolutely terrible, and I do think that it's mediocre at best by the end of the day. The third act is very well done, but because of all the other stuff beforehand it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I think people should check this one out if they're interested, but other than that, just leave it be. Ultimately, "Father Stu" is a hard thumbs down for me.
CinemaSerf2022-05-29
★ 6/10
Mark Wahlberg is competent here as the eponymous boxer who takes a shine to the young church-going Carmen (Teresa Ruiz). He can't get near her, so he somewhat opportunistically decides to join her church and see if that helps. Thing is, pretty quickly he discovers that there is something to this "God" thing, and decides to try and get himself ordained for the priesthood - leaving all thoughts of the girl behind. Meantime, he discovers that he is suffering from a degenerative disease that will prove debilitating as he ages. It's one of those inspirational stories this, but I just didn't particularly like or empathise with "Stu". I found his profound and fairly sudden Damascine conversion hardly explained in the context of the film and except for a few decent contributions from the always reliable Jacki Weaver (his mother) the rest of this was all a bit lacking in substance. I never felt like I knew what made this man tick! It is nice to see Malcom McDowell back on the screen, and Mel Gibson is perfectly adequate as his rather indifferent father - but sadly, this whole film is a just another, sometimes touching, biopic of one man of many who live to inspire through their church (or not) whilst facing adversities and trials that trouble many people. It is watchable, but I'm afraid equally forgettable.
TkA2026-07-30
★ 9/10
Great Movie! Father Stu caught me by surprise, leaving me astounded by its execution. It was extremely well done. The movie seamlessly blended humor, inspiration, emotional depth, and the enlightening knowledge. The cast's exceptional performance was praiseworthy, making his is one of the better movies of 2022. Heartfelt congratulations and sincere appreciation to everyone involved in its creation and success!\ \ Mark Whalberg put up the financial backing for this movie, which played a vital role in bringing this movie to life. He has truly excelled in bringing this all together, and I sincerely appreciate his contribution to its success. Thank you!