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75A delicate film - not flimsy, but fragile - that holds together on the strength of Efron's physical presence and performance.
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70The vehicle may get a little jacked up along the way, but its passenger arrives in style: The kid's a star.
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63The byplay between Efron and newcomer Tahan as his brother has a warmth and intimacy that establish the film's tone. The performances carry the film.
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This handsomely shot melodrama has a twist too peculiar to dismiss as some two-bit Nicholas Sparks weepie.
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60Religious overtones, however, could make this the rare mainstream feature that connects with the faith-based entertainment market.
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50Charlie St. Cloud is primarily a vehicle to prove the actor can do more than dance and sing. It's more of a demo reel for Efron than a movie. His predominant fan base, though, won't mind a bit.
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50The movie tries to capture the crushing weight of loss, but between the insipid pop tunes and the repetitive shots cutting away to a lighthouse on a scenic outcropping, it feels more like a film version of a condolence card.
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50The movie's central gimmick isn't enough, and when more supernatural twists that don't play by the movie's own fantasy rules kick in, it lost me.
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50One thing that defies debate: Zac Efron is going places as an actor of value. But he deserves better movies than Charlie St. Cloud.
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50Guilt, grief and the struggle to move on are big themes, but unfortunately, director Burr Steers and his script writers aren't interested in exploring them.
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The surprises really do surprise but often because they're remarkably stupid and poorly explained.
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50The film is memorable mainly for attractive people sailing and smooching against an attractive backdrop. There's no urgency behind all the preening.
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42The surreal thing is, Zac Efron can't do despair.
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40This ode to "moving on" from grief packs so little genuine emotion that it will touch only the most susceptible of viewers.
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40Though it was directed by Burr Steers, Charlie St. Cloud feels more like a misguided collaboration among Nicholas Sparks, M. Night Shyamalan and Billy Graham.
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40Cue those weepy violins. Indeed, you get everything you'd expect from this mostly saccharine melodrama.
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40Though the soundtrack comes on kind of heavy, the cinematography (by Enrique Chediak) has a beautiful clarity. Yorick's skull or not, Charlie St. Cloud is no Shakespearean drama, but the film should prove to be another solid stepping stone for Efron on his way to a long adult career.
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40For now, Efron remains an unrealized dream and Charlie St. Cloud an unrealized movie, though judging from the "ooohhs" and "awwwws" from the audience, for his core tween-girl fans, that's more than enough.
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38Director Burr Steers milks them dry, like an overeager farmer at milking time, which is a paradox since this is the wettest picture of 2010, what with the sea spray and Efron's tear ducts and the general metaphysical mist.
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38Charlie St. Cloud, like its star Zac Efron, is a gorgeous, unblemished thing. Both would be much improved with a tiny flaw or two.
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38It has no pulse, no apparent breath.
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38Clumsily incorporates elements of "Ghost," "The Sixth Sense," and "Field of Dreams."
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38Ultimately, the reason Charlie St. Cloud loses its momentum is because a love triangle between a grieving man, a beautiful woman from his past, and a spectral shade is just too strange.
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38It's more like a shelved episode of "Touched by An Angel." The sappy script is a disservice to the naturally effervescent Efron, whose character is so mopey he makes Robert Pattinson seem like a song-and-dance man.
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30The film doesn't just fail, it actually gets sillier by the minute.
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30The scenes in which Charlie plays catch with the ghost of his Red Sox-happy brother are only the most mawkish in a movie whose every element is calculated to set a 12-year-old girl's heart thumping.
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25Some bad movies should carry a leper's bell to warn off ticket buyers. Such a contagion is Charlie St. Cloud, a load of mawkish swill starring Zac Efron (bereft of the talent he showed in "Me and Orson Welles").
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25A maudlin and unintentionally hilarious romantic weepie.
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25What "serious" means for young actors, as we know from Miley Cyrus's "The Last Song," is maudlin, and Charlie St. Cloud is no exception.
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20You are not, in a movie like this, supposed to think too much; you are supposed to be transported beyond skepticism on a wave of pure, tacky feeling. Instead, in this case, you drown in sentimental, ghoulish nonsense.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 1 out of 7
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Mixed: 2 out of 7
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Negative: 4 out of 7
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I could have given 2 more points if "Charlie St. Cloud" knew what morale it was going to present. Guess it didn't do its homework...
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3It has good acting, but the story is very shallow. The unpredictability is common here. The lesson that you could've learned from this is missing.