Charlie St. Cloud: The Efron Effect

Good movie? No. Good story? Not really. Good characters? Try again. Three strikes and you’re out, right? Sure, if we’re talking baseball. But in the movies, success is measured at the box office. So the question is: will Charlie St. Cloud be a hit. Absolutely! An out of the park home run!

And what makes me so sure? Two words: Zac Efron.

Now I will admit, I’m no Efron fan. Quite the opposite. I’m a father of identical twin girls… twelve years old. But trust me when I say Mr. Efron has been an intricate part of my household for the past four years.

God knows how many times the High School Musical movies have played in my living room. Enough that songs like “Right Here Right Now”, “Bet On It”, and “The Boys Are Back” became permanent fixtures in my head. I was caught a number of times humming Efron tunes while at the gym, in an elevator, or at the coffee shop.

And then there were the rehearsals for my girls’ 5th grade talent show. Along with what seemed like a legion of their teenybobber friends, they practiced for weeks in our garage, singing and choreographing to HSM‘s “Fabulous” and “We’re All in This Together.”

So I supported the “Efron Fever” for years, because well, it was easier to embrace it than to fight it. But just like my girls have moved on to more “sophisticated” things – like the Twilight series and Taio Cruz’ hit single “Dynamite” – Mr. Efron has also grown up. I’m sure he’d probably agree with my girls: “High School Musical is SO LAST YEAR.”

The Zac Efron we’ve known as a teen heartthrob that brought us the High School Musical mania and such hits as Hairspray and 17 Again – all box office winners – was nothing more than an up and coming boy testing the waters. Charlie St. Cloud, however, is Efron at the brink of manhood and Hollywood superstardom. And I must admit, he’s wearing a really good-looking hood.

But this is a movie review, not a moonstruck Efron session. There’s plenty of time for that later.

Charlie St. Cloud is a fantasy-romance based on the 2004 Ben Sherwood novel The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. The plot is simple enough and nothing you can’t figure out from the trailers:

Charlie (Efron) is a young man overcome by grief after the death of his younger brother, Sam (Chalrie Tahan). But upon discovery that he can see his brother’s ghost, he keeps a promise to meet him in the woods and play catch every night before sunset. But when a girl Tess (Amanda Crew) comes into his life, Charlie must choose between keeping his promise to his dead brother or saving the girl he loves.

Burr Steers – actor (Pulp Fiction) turned writer (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) turned director (17 Again) does an adequate job in directing the film, despite the often clumsy and telegraphed script penned by Craig Pearce (Romeo + Juliet) and Lewis Colick (October Sky). I would have expected more – especially from two top-notch screenwriters – but I do give them props for delivering a great twist to end Act Two – a twist Aaron Hills of the Village Voice says is “too peculiar to dismiss as some two-bit Nicholas Sparks weepie.”

The acting is – with the exception of Efron, Crew, Logue, and newcomer Prew – completely manufactured. I expected more from Ray Liotta and Kim Basinger, but maybe the blame should go around. Liotta and Basinger together share a total of about 4 minutes of screen time – not nearly enough, especially for Liotta’s character, Ferrente, who holds the key to Charlie’s freedom. To me it felt like some studio execs said, “Hey, we need some big stars to fill the supporting roles, just in case this Efron kid can’t pull it off, but we can’t pay top dollar, so we’ll find us some one-time A-Listers, but now fading stars.” It would have worked better to cast really good character actors – decisions well made in casting Donal Logue as Tink Weatherbee (horrible name) and Augustus Prew, who shows the best acting chops in the film playing Alistair Wooley, Charlie’s lovable, free-spirited, gin-drinking, best friend.

One stroke of casting brilliance, however, goes to Amanda Crew, playing Charlie’s love interest Tess. The traditional move would have been to choose the picture perfect, but misunderstood and out-of-his-league cheerleader type, but casting Crew was a smart and bold move. She’s attractive, but in a natural way – think Midwestern active, not Hollywood polished. And it’s that girl next-door look and attitude that works so well. Don’t be surprised if Crew starts stealing audiences like Molly Ringwald did in the ’80s: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast club, Pretty in Pink.

But with all that said, the hard truth is that Charlie St. Cloud was always a Zac Efron project, and the success of the film will rest entirely on the verging star himself. Vegas odds tell me, though, that Mr. Efron is a very good bet.

How can I be so sure? Simple. I didn’t just see a movie. I had an experience. Something happened to me. Never in my life have I seen a film and been so preoccupied with the attractiveness of the lead actor. I am embarrassed to say, but not afraid to admit, that Efron put a spell on me.

I blame his eyes. Efron’s eyes. You get lost in them. Everytime! It’s like they’re some enchanting black hole, sucking you in, captivating you, forcing you to fall head over heels. I don’t know how else to explain it except to simply refer to it as “The Efron Effect”.

I mean, listen to me. I sound like a little girl going gaga for the young movie star while staring at his posters I have plastered all over my walls. The truth is, I’m a guys guy: I watch sports, drink beer, played rugby in college, I have more tools than I can use, even built my house with my own hands, board by board. But despite all that, I have a crush on Efron. It’s the eyes, I tell you. Those damn eyes!

Charlie St. Cloud isn’t going to become one of those memorable movies that stays with you for years to come, but it will be an experience of historical Hollywood proportions. Zac Efron is no longer a boy, and Charlie St. Cloud is the movie that will plant the seed. All we have to do is sit back and watch “The Efron Effect” take hold, growing to embrace the future heartthrob of Hollywood.

Efron is the real deal. He may not have the acting chops of a DiCaprio or Depp. But it doesn’t matter. He’s a self-deprecating James Dean mixed with the coolness of Brad Pitt, the body of Matthew McConaughey, and sex appeal of George Clooney, and… he’s a nice guy. And despite his young age, there’s a timeless throwback quality to him: a little Robert Redford, a pinch of Paul Newman, and a dash of Clint Eastwood.

As a movie, I give Charlie St. Cloud 2 out of 4 tissues.

But as a high-powered commercial career move… priceless.