A few days ago, I stumbled upon the official trailer for Charlie St. Cloud, the new movie starring High School Musical star Zac Efron. I had seen a TV spot for it during the MTV Movie Awards, but I was so zoned out how much of a mess that was that I wasn't really paying attention.
When I finally decided to sit down and watch it, I really wasn't expecting much of anything. It wouldn't have surprised me if it sucked royally, or if it turned out to be pretty good.
Turns out, it's a bit of both.
From what I gathered from the trailer, Charlie St. Cloud is ultimately a Nicholas Sparks movie, not written by Nicholas Sparks. It's about this teenager Charlie St. Cloud (Efron) who has to live with the guilt of his kid brother's death, which includes seeing his lingering ghost. Charlie made a promise to his little brother that he would play baseball with him every day before he heads off to college. So, that is what he ends up doing. That is, until a pretty young girl enters his life and he falls in love. The struggle between his little brother's ghost world and the world of love is central to the film.
Speaking on the plot, it sounds like it teeters on the thin line between terribly cheesy and touchingly profound. I mean, child death is never easy, and seeing how a teenager deals with it has promise, but the whole "healing through love" aspect threatens to drive the film into weepy Kleenex territory.
I'm particularly interested in the acting part, though. Since watching 17 Again, I believed that Zac Efron might just be able to break that Disney bubble and break into the mainstream before it all collapses on him (á la Hilary Duff). From the scenes in the trailer, especially dealing with his brother's death, it seems like Efron might finally have a role he can show his acting abilities in.
Does Efron have what it takes to evolve from teen idol to leading man? Check out the trailer below and tell me what you think:
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