Movie Review: Charlie St. Cloud

The undead are all the rage right now, so it’s just a short step to the actually dead. In “Charlie St. Cloud,” Charlie sees dead people (imagine reading that in a whisper), but they don’t scare him. Instead they keep him from living his life.

Charlie (Zac Efron) happily prepares to graduate high school and head off to Stanford on a sailing scholarship, leaving his mother and little brother Sam (Charlie Tahan) to keep the home fires burning. First, however, they have one last summer, in which Charlie plans to prep Sam for the baseball team.

Fate has other plans. A horrific car accident takes Sam’s life. Guilt and grief drive Charlie into the quiet, isolated regions of his brother’s graveyard. He finds ghostly Sam waiting for him, eager to resume tossing around the baseball. Charlie promises Sam that they will meet every day when the cannons signal the ships that sunset has begun.

Charlie keeps his promise, at the cost of his college career, sailing passion, and interest in life in general. Five years later, he lives and works at the graveyard, lives an isolated life, and plans his life around his sunset appointment. Because he can see Sam, he can see other recently departed people as they pass through the graveyard to the great beyond. He may not have much, but he has a few precious moments with Sam each day.

An old high school classmate, who happens to be a comely girl named Tess (Amanda Crew) returns to town, both to visit her father’s grave and to prepare for a long sailing race. There’s something about her that just might start Charlie caring about life again, but will another overwhelming tragedy happen to Charlie instead?

The best part of the film is the easy, affectionate, and boyish relationship between Sam and Charlie. Boys show affection, as well as anger, through wrassling and jibes, and that dynamic comes sparkling through the screen. The sibling love story is just as compelling as the romantic one.

Although the film isn’t graphic or scary, it does chase that gothic romantic vibe recently made popular in “Twilight,” “True Blood,” and other vamp offerings. In fact, the most romantic scene happens in a misty, moonlit cemetery. (Note to young women: Don’t expect your beaux to take you to cemeteries for dates. The reality does not live up to the fantasy. Plus, a nice French restaurant doesn’t have spiders.)

The story offers some pleasing twists and turns. It occasionally veers off into the corn, but has enough good writing and acting to keep the audience’s attention. Zac Efron once again proves he’s more than a pretty boy with good dance moves, no small task coming off of the fame of the High School Musical franchise. All that jitterbugging is hard to live down.

The film is about the courage to pick up life again after a devastating loss. Anyone who has lost someone they truly loved knows the feeling. You’d give anything, absolutely anything, for just one more visit with your beloved. Just to know he is there.

Charlie, through the magic of moviemaking, is given the chance to do just that, to keep his brother with him. Ultimately, however, we all have to say goodbye. It’s the hardest part of living, but must be done or life is just a shadow.

As Charlie learns, it should be so much more.

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