Charlie St Cloud (2010)

Directed by: Burr Steers | 99 minutes | drama, romance, fantasy | Actors: Zac Efron, Amanda Crew, Ray Liotta, Kim Basinger, Chris Massoglia, Donal Logue, Dave Franco, Charlie Tahan, Julia Maxwell, Tegan Moss, Augustus Prew, Brenna O’Brien, Matt Ward, Jesse Wheeler, Miles Chalmers, Paul Duchart, Paul Chevreau

His image graces the walls of countless girls’ rooms around the world. Zac Efron (1987) has been a teen idol ever since he appeared as Troy Bolton, a basketball player on the East High School school team, in “High School Musical” (2006) and its two sequels. With his toned body and sky-blue eyes, he makes a lot of hearts go wild. With his roles in the extremely popular musical series, especially in the US, Efron proved not only to be able to sing and dance well, but also to act. No wonder he was the first choice for the producers of the remake of ‘Footloose’ (1984). But Efron dropped out, probably because he didn’t feel like playing the same kinds of roles over and over. Instead, he opted for more “serious” acting in the film “Me and Orson Welles” (2008). He then made the romantic comedy ’17 Again’ (2009) with director Burr Steers. Apparently the collaboration between actor and director went so well that not long after that they made another film together and that became ‘Charlie St. Cloud’ (2010), a romantic drama with supernatural touches. Not always credible and sometimes quite sweet, but the fan base of Efron probably doesn’t care about that.

Life seems to be smiling at eighteen-year-old Charlie St. Cloud (Efron). He looks good, can learn well and also excels in sports. He is such a good sailor that he received a scholarship to the prestigious University of Stanford. After the summer, he will be able to continue building his promising sports career there. But then disaster strikes: during a serious car accident, Charlie’s eleven-year-old brother Sam (Charlie Tahan) is killed. Charlie, who was behind the wheel, miraculously survives the accident. He feels so guilty about Sam’s death that he puts his plans to go to college on the back burner and takes up a secluded life as a supervisor at the local cemetery so he can keep an eye on his brother’s grave. Five years pass before he discovers that he has a special gift. In the evening, when the sun goes down, (the ghost of) Sam appears so that Charlie can fulfill his promise. He has agreed to throw a ball with him every night, to talk about the important things in life. However, when the beautiful Tess (Amanda Crew) appears in his life, it is no longer so easy for Charlie to keep his head up.

‘Charlie St. Cloud’, after the book ‘The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud’ by Ben Sherwood, deals with heavy themes such as death, guilt and fines, but the rather violently portrayed car accident at the The beginning of the film is the only thing that fits those themes. Where you expect a gloomy and introverted portrait of a young man who fights against his demons, in ‘Charlie St. Cloud’ it all remains very superficial. It’s all just a little too beautiful what we see. Of course you can enjoy the beautifully shot images (shot in the Vancouver region) of autumn sun-drenched forests and idyllic glittering lakes, but in a film about a sad, depressed boy who has seen all his dreams fall to pieces, you just expect a little less rose scent and moonshine. The actors are all just a bit too good-looking to be believable. In the romantic scenes between Crew and Efron, everything suddenly falls into place. Those are immediately the strongest scenes of the entire film and, remarkably enough, also the least sugary.

The film also wants too much. It is coming-of-age, romance and supernatural drama in one, but especially that last aspect is only poorly portrayed. Steers, after all, the man behind a quality film like ‘Igby Goes Down’ (2003), occasionally even goes wrong with this, which detracts from the film as a whole. Because ‘Charlie St. Cloud’ isn’t really bad either. The film relies heavily on Efron’s natural charisma, who definitely has what it takes to become a big star (although he still needs to learn a lot from the acting coaches for some more depth in his playing). The camera loves him. The young Charlie Tahan is a promising talent, who may have less charisma than Efron, but in fact more convincing in his role. Crew is a charming appearance. Less strong are experienced veterans Kim Basinger (as Charlie’s mother who is more out of the picture than on screen) and Ray Liotta as the paramedic who saves Charlie’s life. Their presence hardly adds anything to the whole and might as well have been left out.

‘Charlie St. Cloud’ is a showcase for Zac Efron and his (mostly young) fans get their money’s worth. He’s in pretty much every scene and yes ladies, he even takes off his shirt a few times to show off his impressive torso. That immediately says something about the superficiality with which this potentially nice drama is approached. The pictures are all just a bit too sunny, the people just a bit too beautiful and that makes it unbelievable. A supernatural drama doesn’t excel in realism anyway, but you have to be able to go along with it for some reason. And for that the blue viewers of Zac Efron alone are really not enough.