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the audience applauded

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I watched this on Netflix streaming movies. It is a product of Pat Mills, a Canadian, who wrote and directed and also stars. It is a parody of his own life, starting out as a child actor on a TV series.In this fictional takeoff Mills is a mostly unemployed actor who drinks too much and is always on the verge of being evicted from his apartment. He has a difficult time facing issues. Like the skin cancer he has on his shoulder, the doctor says it is serious and needs to be treated. But his approach is to put a band-aid on it to hide it.With enough smarts to realize he needs a job, he looks in the newspaper classifieds and sees a position for a high school guidance counselor. He is absolutely unequipped for that but decides, "I'm an actor, I can play that part." So he finds a video of a real guidance counselor, studies it, learns the right things to say, and steals his identity for the interview. There is an immediate opening, the Principal is headed out of town, so they call back and hire him the same day.Of course the whole thing is implausible, he drinks shots of vodka with students in his office, he smokes pot with them, he tells a promiscuous girl she needs to accept that she is a slut and be the best slut she can be. In essence all the things a guidance counselor should not do.It doesn't last, especially when he starts to rob tanning salons for quick cash. There is no significant moral here except that there are people like this in life, I knew one very well, who think that constant positive reinforcement of one's self can overcome anything. It can't.

Usually when one person writes, directs, and stars in a film, it's a HUGE danger sign, but in this case, it's actually pretty good. Very low key, kind of slow moving, but some funny bits and one liners in this one by Pat Mills. He actually WAS a child star back in 1979, and apparently didn't do anything in film or television again until 2000, so clearly, this is partly auto-biographical, albeit, tongue in cheek. In the story, David, who may or may not be gay, has trouble holding onto a job. Probably because he likes to drink. He gets a gig as a high-school guidance counselor, and takes on another identity. The students see right through him, but because he tells it like it is, he actually gets through to them and things are working out. At least for now. Then it hits the fan.... the (male) gym teacher is hitting on him, and people start recognizing him from his childhood days on television. Some pretty clever stuff in between the serious stuff. It gets a little weird when it all blows up on him, but it's still funny.This was funded by Telefilm Canada, and you can hear it now and then when they speak. This is showing on Netflix. If you like the offbeat, fun ones, check it out!

As the description states this story is about a former male child star who as an adult has become the classic 'boozing, drug-addled former child star looser'. To get his act together and keep his apartment he must find a job. And due to circumstance at the local high school he scores a job as a high school guidance counselor, for which he is totally unprepared outside of interviewing for the position.After numerous failures as a 'qualified' counselor he decides the best way to help the students in need of guidance is to just encourage them to be exactly who they are! But be the best at it. In doing this he becomes very popular with the students and very unpopular with the resentful fellow staff teachers. When one teacher discovers the guidance counselor's past, he begins to make trouble for the successful counselor. And here is where the movie begins to get both serious and funny."Guidance" is a delightful little story with numerous characters you will both hate and characters you will love. The performances are spot on and the storyline rolls along without any boring uninteresting scenes. And please stay with it through the end credits because there is more!

I like Judd Apatow movies. They are offensive comedies, characters are over the top. They are a cartoon of real life. By comparison, say.. an Adam Sandler or Dana Carvey movie is more of a full on fantasy cartoon of real life. In "Guidance", we have something more subtle. You get the eccentric funny character- in a real life setting. The whole world is transformed by one believable eccentric figure. This is a relatively obscure film- not a lot of votes, it's Canadian. When considering spending an hour or two of my life watching a film- I care that it have some substance, that it be amusing perhaps, that it be shot well, I don't want crappy immature work of the camera. I want good actors, I want a good story. This movie has it all. I was shocked by how fun it was. I'm delighted that I chose to watch this movie last night with my darling. Try this movie for ten minutes, before you know it- the biggest regret will be that eventually the movie ends.