The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

Wednesday 24th July 2013

Director: Burr Steers
Year: 2010
Stars: Zac Efron, Charlie Tahan, Amanda Crew

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud is not the most instantly engaging film I've ever seen. In fact, after having watched the first half an hour and been called away for some baby-related reason or another, I dismissed the movie as "not really worth a watch". That didn't stop me recording the next hour and a half though, just in case things improved.

Charlie St.Cloud (Efron) loses his younger brother in a car crash, but for the next five years still goes to meet him and practice baseball. This results in everybody thinking of him as the town oddball, and him giving up his sailing scholarship. But things change when an old schoolmate, Tess Carroll (Crew), appears on the scene.

Things do improve - not tremendously, but enough to keep me engaged on a quiet Wednesday afternoon when I didn't really want to be doing anything else. Once the character of Tess gets properly introduced, things get a little more interesting. They are still completely obvious (although not in the way you think after having read this review), and this really isn't a movie for those who like films to keep them guessing, but it's not a bad choice if you're after a switch-off moment or two.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5