Reel Review: Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie St. Cloud was a nice change for me, something of a romantic drama that I’ve been away from for while as I don’t have a lot of friends willing to take that leap, and because Zac Effron really is a talented young actor. I mostly got to go to this because my younger sister and her friend really wanted to see this at midnight(honestly I think she wanted to see Zac Effron for another reason than his talent, and she’s an actress) and as a movie nerd I was kinda proud to see her wanting to come see it at midnight. Honestly I was glad to come to this with her and as such I’m more then happy to give you guys a review.

Charlie St. Cloud is based off the novel The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood, which according to the synopsis on Wikipedia holds the core story the same. That core story, which is easily gotten from the trailers, is that Charlie’s brother, whom he is very close to, dies in an accident along with Charlie, but Charlie is brought back by a paramedic only to see his brother every day in the woods to play catch with him which goes great until a girl enters his life. Honestly it is very simple in concept but the film works well as the talent behind it brings some great life to it.

As I said in my introduction, this film stars Zac Effron as the title character and he truly just does a terrific job making you care about this character throughout and honestly Effron really is one of those incredibly talented young actors. His brother, Sam, is played by a young kid named Charlie Tahan who hasn’t really been in much else but my liking this movie really hinged on him in my opinion but he was cute when needed, and downright hilarious at other times in a sort of Kids Say the Darnedest Things way. The love interest, Tess, is played by Amanda Crew who is probably best known from her role in Sex Drive and while she isn’t a stunner like a Megan Fox type, she is good looking and talented enough to make her affect and seemingly sudden relationship with Charlie believable. I guess it is notable to mention that Kim Basinger plays Charlie’s mother, or that Ray Liotta is the paramedic who saves Charlie but both have such minor parts that their role is hardly worth note.

In the end the film just works as a cute film that can hold your interest and just be charming when needed and that may be the nicest way to generalize it. Honestly the humor that makes up most of the start of the film just feels natural and makes Charlie and Sam’s relationship as brothers feel real and lets you sink into the film and understand their connection even in Sam’s death. This connection makes the strain on their relationship brought on by Tess really feel natural and needed. Thankfully the film doesn’t just become dark or romantic in the middle thanks to some peppered on humor by Charlie’s friend Alistair, played by Agustus Prew who I don’t know from anything else, but honestly as a British actor I was even left laughing in the credits as I realized his real name and his character’s name may be the most English names I’ve ever heard. Either way, there is a good enough balance in this film to really entertain and be worth the price of a ticket, especially a Matinee.

Some of the way this is shot, however, felt like the director was going for a different feel then the editors gave it as there was some serious suspense and “mysticism” like scenes that could’ve gone a totally different way. I mean the most notable is a scene with Charlie chasing Tess through the graveyard he works in at night. The editing gives it the feel of a romantic romp, a sort of game, mostly due to music. The filming however shows the place as full of shadows and confusion in a thick mist as Charlie stomps around with an old lantern as his only light, something easily made to feel spooky. While the unreal/mystical elements are handled well enough, they aren’t always fully flushed out and feel like they were intended to go for a darker tone, so much so that I leaned over to my sister in that graveyard scene and mentioned that with 5 minutes of editing I could take this film and make a trailer for a suspense/horror/thriller. However, still a film you’d want to see.

Honestly, I was glad to take my sister to this from the start, but I had that little bit of worry and hesitation that it would end up being mediocre, but in the end I left happy.

Rating: 3/5

Reelization:

While in no way perfect, the film is cute and fun and worth a ticket. If you’re a guy in a relationship, its a great date movie as you can likely get some enjoyment out of this as opposed to the crap of stuff like Leap Year, and if you’re a girl…well you probably like Zac Effron and might even like Leap Year so you will almost definately like this and if you’re in a relationship and don’t want to see something like Inception with your boyfriend then this isn’t a bad option for you to offer to him.