Everyone needs a bit of a pep talk sometimes: “You are not gay, you just have a gentle voice” or “You will beat this skin cancer with cigarettes and tanning.” Quirky Canadian former child star David Gold is in dire need of his own positive affirmations. His bills are overdue, his career recording motivational tapes is deteriorating, his stage III skin cancer is getting in the way of his drinking, and everyone keeps insisting that he’s gay.

Undaunted by this state of affairs, David channels his inner Stuart Smalley and prepares for the role of his career: pretending to be a qualified high school guidance counselor named Roland Brown. Fake resume, check. Corduroy jacket, check. “Smart” glasses, check. Fifth of vodka, check. If he was good enough for a hit show, gosh darnit, he’s good enough to work with high schoolers. As students bring their troubles to his office, “Roland’s” unorthodox methods and utter lunacy raise the ire of the school’s teachers and the adoration of the students. Is he brilliant or insane? Who can tell and who cares? But then David’s unraveling web of deceit leads him down an unexpected, yet refreshing, path of self-realization.

Writer-director-star Pat Mills — whose shorts, Babysitting Andy and Pat’s First Kiss, screened at Frameline32 and who really is an alum of Nickelodeon’s You Can’t Do That on Television — manages to make David both deranged and endearing in his hilariously entertaining and irreverent feature film debut.