Guidance

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.

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!

Pat Mills is a talented funny guy. I had never of him prior to reading about this film on Rotten Tomatoes where they have a great section showcasing films that are currently on Netflix. It sounded interesting and it turned out to be really funny.

Mills plays a former child star with all the clichéd dysfunctional attributes that go with that curse. He apparently has first hand experience, because when I looked him up I discovered that he began his career as a child on a Nickelodeon show,

Mills character David, lies to get his job and then begins doling out the worst advice possible. It all turns out funnier than it should be. At one point the school Administrator's discover his lies and his actions and the film takes a different much less successful turn. I think Mills makes some really bad choices at this point with the character including his turning on his students.

Look, odds are if you watch this close to the date of this post, you are going to go into it with few expectations, and you are very likely to be happily surprised. Almost gave it a 7 due to the weak final act, but gave it an 8 for its' uniqueness.