Passion projects are a funny old thing; actors and filmmakers can often spend years if not decades developing a feature they’ve been holding close to their heart for the longest time, and there’s absolutely no guarantees that the general public will feel the same way. In the case of Mark Wahlberg’s Father Stu, we’d feel confident in saying the risk wasn’t worth the reward.
While the fascinating true-life tale of Stuart Long was far from a box office disaster after earning $21 million during its theatrical run on a paltry $4 million budget, a 42 percent Rotten Tomatoes score paints a picture of critical apathy. Even more galling, Wahlberg was singled out in many reviews for being miscast in the lead role, even though the two-time Academy Award nominee poured everything he had into the film in more ways than one.
Not only did the actor pack on 30 pounds to portray the title character later on in life, but he also funneled millions of dollars of his own money into the production, such was his dedication to bringing a story so far-fetched and incredible that it could only be true to the big screen. At various points throughout his life, Long was a boxer, an aspiring movie star, and ultimately a priest after claiming he’d had an out-of-body spiritual experience in the wake of a life-changing motorcycle accident.
To top it all off, he’s now become a certified sensation on a pair of rival streaming services, with Father Stu blowing up on both Netflix and HBO Max, as per FlixPatrol. On the former, the biopic is the third most-watched title among subscribers in the United States, while on the latter it ranks as the seventh-top feature on the global charts having busted into the Top 10 in 20 countries, proving that Wahlberg’s sacrifices may have ultimately been worth it in the long run, despite the less-than-stellar reception.