Charlie St. Cloud

Starring Zac Efron, Amanda Crew, Donal Logue, Charlie Tahan, Ray Liotta, and Kim Basinger. Directed by Burr Steers.

Charlie St. Cloud is a romantic drama about a young man, Charlie, who survives a car crash which takes his brother Sam's life.  Charlie flat lines in the ambulance and a paramedic brings him back giving Charlie a second chance to discover a unique way of looking at life. 

Charlie mourns his brother's death for five years, putting aside his Stanford scholarship and his love of sailing to work as caretaker in the cemetery where Sam is buried.  Every day, as promised, Charlie meets Sam at sunset to play catch in the woods.  Then one day Tess, a highschool classmate, returns from a sail and catches Charlie's eye.  Falling for each other, Tess ignites again Charlie's passion for sailing and for life.  Then in a bad storm Tess disappears while testing her boat sailing into a storm and is feared dead.  Can Charlie find her and will his knowledge of sailing be enough? 

Tess rekindles Charlie's passion for life and with Sam's help, Charlie is able to find the courage to move on, to find that the soul worth saving is his own. 

This is a nice twist to the romantic drama genre.  The cast was well selected and the story unique and riveting.  Charlie St. Cloud is a film adaptation of the novel "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud" by author Ben Sherwood.

“trust your heart

if the seas catch fire

(and live by love

though the stars walk backward)”

—E.E. Cummings, Dive for Dreams

 

My teenage daughter and I both enjoyed this movie.  Bring tissues!  There is a suggestive scene between Charlie and Tess although it is not revealing and the accident scene may be too vivid for children thus the PG13 rating.  Rated PG13 for intense accident scene, language including sexual references and sensuality.

 

Rated 4.5/5 

Buying this one to add to the collection.  Now I want to read the novel!