Parents' Guide to Father Stu

This ill-conceived, frequently irritating biopic trots out every stale genre chestnut while focusing on a relentlessly unlikable main character who comes across as a stubborn, argumentative bully. Covering sports, faith, and disease, Father Stu feels like it might have been chosen by a computer program in an attempt to get its lead actor an Oscar nomination. Wahlberg definitely gives it 110%. He packed on 30 pounds for the part, slipped into prosthetic makeup, and posed for many, many close-ups (so close the seams of his makeup are visible). There are even shots of women admiring his muscular boxer's physique. But his transformation from a pugilist to a man of the cloth is a flatline. Even when discussing faith, his method involves little more than arguing and badgering until his opponent backs down. That method is also used to "win" poor Carmen, even though she initially tells Stu no -- which makes him look like a stalker.

As for the film, writer-director Rosalind Ross (in her feature debut) makes other curious choices. The editing is disorienting, and we often have no idea when or where we are. Characters from Montana regularly drop in on characters from California, and vice versa, with no indication of how they got there or which location it is. We rarely have any idea what year it is, except when Stu's mug shot shows 1994. Plus, Father Stu is peppered with too many weepy songs, as well as a smattering of backward logic and (ugh) homophobia. If the real Stuart Long, who passed away in 2014, was an inspiration to many, this movie is the opposite.