Mark Wahlberg’s Act of Faith in Father Stu

I saw the upcoming Mark Wahlberg movie, Father Stu, early this week. I watched Left Behind, and that basically ruined Christian movies for me. Every once in a while, you encounter something different, like The Passion of the Christ, or The Chosen series. Father Stu meets their standard of excellence, but in a different category because of its language (and at least one completely unnecessary moment). But it’s precisely the rough nature of the film that gives me hope that along with Sony distributing it, and Mark Wahlberg starring in it, it has an audience that The Passion and The Chosen wouldn’t. People simply wanting to see a good story. I pray that a door to encountering Jesus Christ might be opened during the course of seeing it. I was in a movie theater this week for the first time in a long time. It’s worth it for Father Stu.

This has been described as a “passion project” for Wahlberg, who financed the movie himself as a way of paying back for the blessings in his life.

Mel Gibson gives quite the performance as Fr. Stu’s father.

It comes out April 13.

You can watch the trailer here:

There’s an interview with Wahlberg talking about the movie here: