Review of Charlie St. Cloud (2010) by Elizabeth H — 01 Mar 2011

After the death of his brother, a young man decides to live up to a promise they both made when he was alive. Charlie St. Cloud has been maimed by critics left and right for being a rip-off of the supernatural Thriller The Sixth Sense. Even though there are some similiarities in the direction of the film, I don't believe it deserved the title it got. The whole reason behind it's initial slam was because of Zac Efron and his "airbrushed" acting. Honestly, I don't believe anyone is going to get over his past with Disney.

Charlie St. Cloud is a beautifully-layered film with a good surplus of performances all-around. Something that should have catapulted Efron into a serious actor and away from his musical roles. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for him this time around. There are a few idiosyncrasies associated with the plot that should have been corrected before release, especially with the whole love scene between Charlie (Zac Efron) and Tess (Amanda Crew). To have a scene appear in such a fashion and then twist it around to the protagonist realizing that it was her spirit all along, made Efron's character seem imbecilic in his unknowing of it. After interacting with his dead brother for over five years, you would think he can tell between the living and dead up to that point. And on top of that, the female character wasn't dead to begin with, just at the brink and lost in limbo. How her character found it's way back to the graveyard is beyond me, but she did and right into Charlie's arms.

Frivolous happenings such as these are seriously detrimental on my judgements in film, but I will over-look it this time. Charlie St. Cloud might have some loose strings in its storyboard, but it shines with pleasant landscapes and effective acting from its leads.