Commune With Mark Wahlberg in All His Religious Glory Next Month on Streaming

Mark Wahlberg is notorious for playing bad boys. From the early years of his career in films like The Basketball Diaries and Boogie Nights to more recent ventures including Daddy’s Home and Uncharted, the actor’s insane workout regimen has certainly allowed him to put that toned physique to good use in his career. But, he’s also shown his deeper drama range in other movies, such as The Lovely Bones and The Fighter. Both of those worlds collided in 2022 when Wahlberg took on the leading role in the biographical drama, Father Stu. The story essentially follows a bad boy turned priest, a performance that Wahlberg was more than capable of. Also featuring performances from Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Teresa Ruiz (Narcos: Mexico), Cody Fern (The Assasination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story) and Aaron Moten (Fallout), the movie is preparing to bless audiences with its February 11 arrival on Max.

Telling the real life story of Stuart Long, Father Stu follows one man’s late-in-life road to the priesthood. The beginning of the film introduces audiences to Stu (Wahlberg), an aspiring actor and amateur boxer who has no problem with the ladies and enjoys going out to the bars at night. His life takes a major shift one night following a debilitating motorcycle accident from which he shouldn’t have survived. While in the hospital, he experiences a vision of the Virgin Mary, who essentially tells him to get his life together and join the priesthood. Following suit, that’s precisely what Stu sets out to do. Unfortunately, shortly into his latest journey, he discovers that he has a rare muscle disease called inclusion body myositis. Yet again, Stu’s life is flipped upside down as he now must find a way to live with the disease and continue to pursue his dream of becoming a priest.

‘Father Stu’s Death and Rebirth

The Rosalind Ross-helmed movie wasn’t the major hit that Sony Pictures Releasing was hoping for. The studio timed it for an arrival during Holy Week in 2022, but critics weren’t sold on the religious plot. Still, the film made a profit on its $4 million budget, earning a global total of $21.8 million. Completely divided, the audience reaction couldn’t have been any more different than that of the critics, with the former’s Rotten Tomato’s rating an impressive 95% and the latter’s 42%. This difference could have something to do with the movie’s two separate cuts, as the first one to hit cinemas was rated R, while a re-release titled Father Stu: Reborn allowed a younger crowd the chance to see it thanks to a PG-13 rating.

Audiences can commune with Wahlberg and the rest of the cast of Father Stu when the film arrives on Max on February 11.