WHAT’S IT ABOUT: Okay, so there are these brothers, Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron) and Sam (Charlie Tahan). Charlie’s a good looking high school senior, popular, a sailing wizard with a scholarship for Stanford, and the whole world at his feet. Sam is an elementary kid, who loves baseball and going out on the boat. Their mom (Kim Basinger) is a hard-working nurse, who leaves Charlie on ‘Sam duty’ most nights ‘cuz that’s what moms in movies like this do.
On one of those nights, Charlie wants to sneak out, his pal Sullivan (Dave Franco) joining the Marines and throwing one last shindig. Caught by Sam leaving, Charlie takes him along and while in the car, from out of nowhere BAM, tragedy strikes, leaving Sam dead and Charlie a ‘miracle’ when paramedic Florio (Ray Liotta) brings him back from a flatline. Believe it not, none of that is a spoiler.
Thing is, it changes Charlie, who on the day of his brother’s funeral, actually sees him in the woods near his house. The kid’s back as a ghost. More so, he can talk to him and even play catch. It’s like he’s the same as before. Now, every evening just before sunset, they meet to catch up, promising to stay together forever … until … Charlie meets the beautiful Tess (Amanda Crew) and now he must choose between living in the past or moving forward. Hate when that happens.
QUICKIE REVIEW: You sort have to know what you’re getting into when you commit to a flick like Charlie St. Cloud. Based on the Ben Sherwood novel The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, this is unabashedly corny, the filmmakers surely realizing that the premise just isn’t stable enough to be taken all too seriously so instead, wallows in hyperbolic melodrama and close-quarters emotional manipulation the likes a Lifetime movie would feel embarrassed by.
It’s actually kind of off-putting, only because everything feels so artificial, even as it gleefully clings to its fantasy. Efron does his best in a part that has him working in a cemetery, literally and metaphorically living with the dead (he soon sees another passed on fellow). But it’s too whimsical to really make it matter. Crew ticks off all the boxes in a thankless turn but at least pulls her weight. Poor Basinger and Liotta are basically cameos and Tahan has little else to do but be the anchoring ghost. It’s a breezy, lightweight tearjerker that, for those susceptible to such, might do the trick. Maybe you’re one of them. There is a good moment, however.
THAT MOMENT: So, embracing the fact that Charlie St. Cloud is a goofy bit of contrived silliness, once one does, it actually gets just the tips of its hooks in you and, to some minor degree, pulls you along, if anything just to see how far off the deep end it’s going to go. Working its way to the surface of this fluff is the test of love Charlie faces in keeping his relationship with Sam alive or giving in to the hope Tess is now offering, and while that’s not always handled very well, when it is, well, it finds its footing.
In the story, Charlie is bound by his promise to meet Sam every sunset to toss around a baseball, something he has remained objectively true to for five years. The whole town thinks he’s a bit looney because he works in a cemetery, but they accept his odd behaviors in respect to his past, even if it gets him in punchy trouble sometimes.
Either way, Tess finally gets him off his track, her love of sailing (she’s planning a lone trip around the world), and that fetching smile, luring him from his routines. For the first time in a long time, Charlie’s feeling something new. He even tells Sam about it, who initially is skeptical but positive. He’s just a kid remember. And dead.
And then, that all changes when Charlie and Tess get close, sharing a night of intimacy in the um, graveyard because, well, why not. Charlie’s smitten, and who can blame him? Tess is young, pretty, adventurous, smart, flirty, looks great in shorts, and loves sailing. The total package. Problem is … it’s not so good for Sam, who can ‘feel’ his brother slipping away. Girls. See what they do?
This leads to a good moment in the trees where the boys always meets, but this time, for the first time in five years, Charlie is a few minutes late, and oh boy, Sam is crushed. Weeping, he confesses to Charlie that he knows he’s slowly being forgotten, and truthfully, yeah, he’s kinda right. Sex in a graveyard’ll do that. Worse, Tess has followed Charlie into the woods, and sees him talking to no one (cuz, you know, she can’t see dead brothers). She begs Charlie to let the past go, to go back with her and begin a new life, but it’s devastating to Charlie. He can’t give up on Sam. The guilt is too much. What’s he to do?
WHY IT MATTERS: What’s best about this moment is how it’s really the first time of all the times Charlie and Sam meet that truly feels impactful. Their relationship to this point has been one almost entirely about baseball talk and playing in the rain, the two not given anything to do that creates anything significant beyond the basic big brother little brother dynamic. Any real sorrow or remorse Charlie has for his responsibility in his brother’s death has been superficial, until right here when we finally get a feeling of some genuine personal debt.
Despite some obvious hints that the girl will always come between them, it’s brought to bear in the dark of the trees and I like how director Burr Steers keeps this moment visualized like a fulcrum with Charlie right in the middle, he caught between opposing attractions and forced to make a choice that will leave whomever he rejects out of his life forever. Even if you can guess what he does, the way it’s played out and how its filmed make a difference.
Charlie St. Cloud is a mostly empty experience, though you get sense the filmmakers were trying to experiment with their storytelling approach. Unfortunately, it feels too often false and never really earns any of the emotional impact it aims for. Still, a nice bit of choice in the trees makes for a great movie moment.