I just got a copy of this classic Gary Coleman flick which I had heard of but have never seen. "The Kid with the Broken Halo" is by no means a great TV-movie, but it works on a 70's-TV movie level (even though it was made in 1982) that will definitely appeal to adults nowadays looking for a goof.
Gary plays young kid Andy LeBeau, who died at a young age (never explained why) and he isn't quite in Heaven yet, he's stuck in "Midway" where he has to prove himself but keeps on failing. It's never said directly, but it seems he is running out of time and will go to Hell pretty soon unless he proves himself to be a decent guardian angel. He's given three assignments on earth to solve, and has to make good on each one before he earns his angel wings.
Andy works on all three problems at once: a family of four who never spend time with each other; an ex-actress who hasn't come out of her home in many years and shuns everyone; and a former star football player on his last gasp, and the effect it has on his family. Andy not only gets to work on making everyone happy, but he actually intertwines the three cases, making the movie a little clever here and there.
Of course you know the obligatory happy ending is coming, but getting there is actually fun. Gary as Andy really shines and does a good job - no matter how one may feel about him, Coleman had genuine talent as a kid actor, he wasn't just a cute face that lit up the screen. There's really been nobody like him since then. There are many familiar character actors here too, including Kim Fields, best know as being on The Facts of Life and Living Single. She's cute and decent.
The movie does get a bit off the wall here and there due to the story, but that's part of the appeal to me, making it just a bit different. In "Midway" you see a classroom in the clouds full of young children, all smiling and happy, but all having died at way too young an age. The threat of Hell looms, and Blake, Andy's "chaperone" back on earth (played by "Benson"), seems almost uncomfortably uncaring that Andy may be heading that way soon. And for Andy to succeed at his mission, he has to make two football players suffer pain and humiliation with no regard to their feelings. And even the ex-football star's apparent fooling around on his wife is forgotten about quickly. All this sort of elevates this a bit above being a typical kiddie movie although the kids would probably enjoy it.
"Halo" moves along nicely with some decent low-key direction and doesn't hit you over the head with a hammer. Definitely worth a viewing if you can get a copy of this one.
