There’s no way around it, Zac Efron is blessed with matinee idol good looks.  That works for the title character of Charlie St. Cloud… at least in the beginning.  I can certainly buy that a popular high school senior and recipient of a full sailing scholarship to Stanford would be a good looking guy, but after a tragic accident causes him to throw it all away in order for spend the next five years maintaining the cemetery grounds, wouldn’t he at least have some stubble?  Wouldn’t his hair be not-so-perfectly stylish?  Wouldn’t there be some sadness in those bright blue eyes?  It’s just one of the many problems with this wannabe tearjerker.

If you’ve seen just one trailer for Charlie St. Cloud or even just read the first seventeen words of the plot description on IMDB.com, then I am not giving anything away by telling you that the tragic accident results in the death of Charlie’s younger brother, Sam.  Charlie himself was nearly killed in the accident and because of his brush with death he still has the ability to see and communicate with his dead brother.  He takes the job at the cemetery in order to fulfill his promise to his brother to play an hour of catch every night at sunset.

Their Sixth Sense-ish relationship is challenged when Charlie meets Tess Carroll.  In high school, it was Tess who admired the ever-popular Charlie, but now the shoe is on the other foot.  Tess now represents Charlie’s former dreams as she prepares to sail alone around the world.  Can she save Charlie?  The answer may surprise you.

It probably won’t, however, as every bit of this incredibly dull drama is easily predictable.  The big plot twist that takes place about two-thirds of the way through was so obvious that I would have been more shocked had it not happened.

The movie also relies strongly on the relationship between Charlie and Sam for its emotional core, but unfortunately the screenplay tries to take a shortcut to emotional connection and the result is flat.  In the short period before the accident, most of the bonding between the two brothers involves a lot of cursing and hitting.  It’s hard to identify with Sam when he comes off as such a needy and potty-mouthed kid.  There is a fun bonding scene between the brothers as they take advantage of a rainstorm and a couple of garbage can lids, but unfortunately this scene comes about an hour too late.

Although the movie is very short, it still manages to plod along, making a movie about moving on with life feel lifeless.  It doesn’t help that the dialogue is clichéd and the camerawork is at times ugly and distracting.  Some bad supporting performances hurt more than they help and although Efron is decent, his character could have used a little more Philip Seymour Hoffman and a little less Clark Gable.  That said, there were plenty in the audience who seemed perfectly satisfied just seeing their beloved Zac in all his movie star glory.  For the rest of us, however, Efron’s looks alone can’t save this bore of a movie.

Charlie St. Cloud is rated PG-13 for “language including some sexual references, an intense accident scene and some sensuality.”  There’s a sex scene in a graveyard that’s fairly off-putting, but other than that there’s not really much to worry about in this drama.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of Charlie St. Cloud.