Charlie St. Cloud

I've never made a secret of my love of the Zefron. It's difficult for any gay guy to even try. So Charlie St. Cloud was always going to be an important film for me, and all other paid-up members of the Kylie fan club; our boy was finally growing up.

Visually, the film doesn't disappoint. If the beautiful, sweeping landscape shots don't make you want to pack up your bags and move to the west Canadian coastlines where it was filmed, nothing will. The opening sailing sequence is particularly good-looking, not least because of the magnificently sculpted arm muscles of the leading man (below).

Charlie St.Cloud (Zac Efron) tests his deodorant

Despite first impressions of the cast list, the acting throughout is reasonably good. Efron is the only real 'named' talent (assuming you're willing to ignore the combined total of 5 minutes of screen time given to Kim Basinger and Ray Liotta), and delivers a truly tender and poignant performance when dealing with the death of his younger brother. Indeed, overall Efron plays his role admirably (and no, I'm not just saying that), showing that sensitive and moving are just as much a part of his portfolio as broody and smouldering.

Sadly, the film relies a little too much on it's luscious appearances (both background and foreground), that it forgets to spend any real time investing in its storyline. Once past the first half hour, a lot of the film feels padded, and suffers without any real pace or momentum. The addition of several topless scenes does help hold some interest, though ultimately, it's not quite enough to make up for the lack of substance in story.

Worse still, the latter stages of the film suffer from that most heinous of cinematic crimes; predictability. A fully expected "just-in-time" ending is on the cards from about the mid-way point, not helped by the fact that the whole piece hinges around a plot twist that Hollywood has done to death in recent years (no pun intended).

Overall, Charlie St. Cloud is not a terrible movie. It's got it's flaws, but the performances and artistic settings on offer just tip the scales in it's favour. Plus, Zac Efron in a series of tight, fitted (and in some instances) wet t-shirts, is enough to win it a couple of stars back.