The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud ***

For Zac Efron, High School Musical was the film that kick-started his acting career but it is also perhaps something that is holding him back from really achieving his true potential as an actor. Of his first few prominent movie roles that saw him playing a role besides Troy Bolton, parts in Hairspray and 17 Again had him playing parts that weren’t that far removed from the role he is best known for and his first true serious acting role in Me and Orson Welles was little seen as the film failed to attract any notable moviegoing audience.
But this hasn’t deterred Efron from his attempts to be taken seriously as an actor and now comes The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (the title was shortened to just Charlie St. Cloud in marketing), a romantic drama with a fantasy twist, based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Ben Sherwood, which sees Efron reunite with 17 Again director Burr Steers. If that puts you off in anyway, it is also worth noting that Steers also previously directed the considerably darker 2002 film Igby Goes Down, a film which shows that he is capable of handling more serious material. This isn’t to say that Charlie St. Cloud is in any way a dark film, however, as it is a drama of the much lighter variety.

Accomplished young sailor Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron) is adored by his mother Claire (Kim Basinger) and his little brother Sam (Charlie Tahan). His college scholarship will take him far away from his sleepy seaside hometown, but his bright future is cut short when a tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it. A car accident claims Sam’s life and almost claims Charlie’s as well but for paramedic Florio Ferrente (Ray Liotta) bringing him back from the dead after he has flat lined for several minutes. A broken man, Charlie discovers some solace at Sam’s funeral when he encounters the ghost of his dead brother and there Charlie makes a simple promise – every day at sunset he will meet Sam to teach him baseball. Five years later, Charlie has given up his scholarship and any chance of ever leaving his hometown, now working as the caretaker at the graveyard where Sam was buried and having kept his promise every day since he first made it. However, after his high-school classmate Tess (Amanda Crew) returns home unexpectedly, Charlie grows torn between the promise he has made and the chance to find love. But as he finds the courage to let go of the past, Charlie discovers the soul most worth saving is his own. In this emotionally charged story, Charlie begins a romantic journey in which he embraces the dark realities of the past while discovering the true meaning of love.

It would be a lie to say that The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud is going to be Zac Efron’s breakthrough film as that most definitely isn’t going to be the case, the film having been rejected by many critics and not seen by many moviegoers on its release across the pond – a fate that it will likely experience here as well. To say that this film is bad, however, would also be a lie as, while this film isn’t particularly remarkable in any way, it is nonetheless a pretty well made romantic drama and one that shows that Zac Efron really can act. His performance here is one full of real emotion, his response to the tragedy he has experienced being entirely believable and truly moving, made all the more so thanks to the strong brotherly dynamic that he has with co-star Charlie Tahan both before and after Sam’s death, something that makes us really believe in the brotherly bond between them. Many will be able to relate to his character – the ghost of his brother is essentially a representation of his difficulty moving on with his life, something that anyone who has lost a loved one will likely have personal experience of. This is a film about Charlie himself not the ghost(s) that he sees (the fantasy element is not the real focus of the film) and Efron’s performance really makes for a character who we can care about. Not only that, but he is also very charming and likable, which makes the attraction between Charlie and Tess all the more convincing, there being a real spark between Efron and Amanda Crew from the very start, her being a strong romantic interest and the chemistry between them seeming genuine, allowing us to truly believe that they are falling in love with one another. Elsewhere, the acting is not very noteworthy though with both Kim Basinger and Ray Liotta being underserved in roles that are little more than cameo appearances in terms of how much they appear on the screen. In other aspects the film is less noteworthy however. There are some instances of quite beautiful cinematography – a shot of what appears to be stars in the night sky but turns out to be the surface of a road, a zoom out from a forest to a wide shot of the stunning coastline and a shot of Charlie and Amanda at night with them appearing almost like silhouettes being clear examples – but while the film looks pretty good, the writing fails to deliver anything remotely special. The film essentially comes off like a teenage version of The Sixth Sense but without that film’s mystery and lacking that twist (although there still a reasonably surprising twist in the tale here), managing to avoid treading on too many clichés but coming across in no way original. The story also seems a bit overly sentimental at times as well although some will undoubtedly find this charming, even sweet. Overall, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud is a decently made and very moving tearjerker that tells a simple story about moving on with your life and that features some very good performances but lacks the depth in the writing that could make it truly great or memorable. You won’t die if you don’t see this film and it certainly won’t change your life if you do but if you are looking for a solid drama this is worth checking out.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

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