Charlie St. Cloud

Based on the novel by Ben Sherwood, Charlie St. Cloud is a movie that has its heart in the right place, but has very little in terms of brains. This is a well-meaning, but mawkish tear-jerker about a young man who seemed to have it all, until the night his kid brother Sam (Charlie Tahan) was killed in a car accident. Since then, Charlie (Zac Efron) has refused to go on with his life. Instead of going on to college, he took a job as a groundskeeper at the local cemetery, where he is visited by the ghost of young Sam every day to talk and throw a baseball back and forth.

Is Sam's ghost a figment of Charlie's mind, as a way for him to deal with his own guilt (he was at the wheel the night Sam died)? Or did his own near-death experience in that same accident somehow give Charlie a supernatural sixth sense? It's an intriguing question, and one that the movie generally ignores. That's because the film exists solely as a project for star Zac Efron to move beyond his perky image he created in the High School Musical films and last year's 17 Again. Normally, I would not see anything wrong with this, but it's quite clear that Efron is not comfortable with such somber material. His portrayal of the depressed and haunted titular character seems to revolve around staring blankly off into space. His eyes seem unfocused, which I guess is supposed to give us the impression that he is a tormented soul lost in thoughts we could never understand. Instead, it looks like he's not sure how to play a lot of the scenes he's given.

So, Charlie's stuck in the past, talking to his dead brother, and refusing to move on with his life. The locals in the seaside town where he lives seem to be divided on their opinion of him. A small few are sympathetic, and know that he's capable of more than he's achieved, such as the friendly paramedic who saved Charlie's life that fateful night (Ray Liota in a cameo). Most choose to view him as an oddball. And then there are those who are not sure what to think, like local girl Tess (Amanda Crew). She used to be attracted to Charlie when they went to high school together, but has drifted away from him over time. Now she's planning to leave on a sailing expedition around the world. Of course, before she leaves, she begins to strike up a friendship with Charlie, one which begins to blossom into something more. This creates a personal dilemma for Charlie. Does he let the past and his brother's ghost go, or does he move on to the future with this girl?

Another complication arises - Tess has a secret. To avoid spoilers, I will not reveal it here, but anyone who is half-awake while watching the movie will be able to figure it out long before Charlie does. When the big reveal comes, it feels like the movie is finally catching up with the audience. Charlie St. Cloud obviously wants to be a sweet and inoffensive romantic story, with a few supernatural elements tossed in for good measure. The best way to describe the screenplay is what would happen if author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) and filmmaker M Night Shyamalan teamed up to do a project together. The end result is just as uneven and schizophrenic as you might expect. The romantic scenes between Charlie and Tess are pleasant, but kind of dull, and lack energy. Meanwhile, the supernatural stuff is supposed to be full of twists that keep us guessing, but as I mentioned, will only throw off those who leave for long bathroom breaks.

It's not just the central romance that lack energy, but the entire movie itself. Though never boring, the film often seems glacial in its pacing. Everyone, especially Charlie, kind of sulks around like they're in slow motion. It would be pretty gloomy and depressing, if the movie wasn't trying so hard to please the teen girl crowd, with love scenes that barely push the limits of a PG-rating (despite the film being PG-13), and lead star Efron being depicted with his shirt off as much as possible, almost as if he were auditioning for the next Twilight movie. Nothing really seems to build here. Things just happen, and then Charlie reacts to them, usually by staring vacantly at whoever is talking to him. For everything the movie puts him through, it's hard to feel for Charlie, as he doesn't seem to have much of a personality to start with.

That's the key problem in Charlie St. Cloud. I never felt for any of its characters. It's filled top to bottom with stock characters that are so lacking in traits and humanity, you don't know how you're supposed to feel about them. When the ending came, not only was I not surprised, but I just did not care.

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