So, what I liked most about this film is that it isn't a typical Christian film with the typical Christian speak, a term I've coined to represent the way people talk in Christian films. The film follows Stuart Long, a man lost in life pursuing multiple occupations to give his life meaning. The story itself is tragic in nature. His relationship with his parents, alcohol, and with himself really make you empathize with the guy. Because it is a film, he has the "conversion moment," but it feels earned through a gradual introduction and conflict with Catholicism and its beliefs in relation to his own life experiences. The most important part of the "conversion moment" in this film is that his life does not get better after it. It does, in fact, get continually worse.
The story cannot rely on the typical Christian movie tropes of submission equalling an immediately much better life. Stuart continues to go through struggles and fights up until his passing. This fighting is what makes his story compelling. I admire writer and director Rosalind Ross for creating a script that sounds like how real people talk. The script has more in common with a biopic than a Faith-Based film. Catholicism is still there but presented in a way that seems more realistic. The conflict is not resolved through prayer. That makes his faith beautiful rather than a moralizing lecture.
I think the acting in the film was pretty strong. Mark Wahlberg is funny and pitiable as Stuart Long. He looks like a real person. Mel Gibson plays his father, Bill Long. Normally, Mel Gibson is over the top in the entertaining action film sort of way, but in this film, I enjoyed his performance of a man angry with the world for cursing him with unbearable tragedy. It was simpler than usual, subtler. The best performance aspect, however, was Walhberg and Gibson's chemistry. I was surprised by the complex relationship so easily portrayed on the screen. The animosity and anger of a broken family persist just under the surface. The characters never have to say the big Christian Speak lines to repair their relationship. It is done through time and commitment. Again, it felt more realistic.
More people would watch these kinds of films if they are more similar to this one. Father Stu is a good template for what a faith movie should look like. Find stories about incredible people in incredible circumstances. If I've come to realize anything about art, it is that people don't want to see life as it could be or as we think it should be; we want to see life as it is with all of its agonies and joys.
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