Charlie St. Cloud (2010)

Charlie's brother, Sam, dies in a car crash that Charlie survives. Charlie is given the gift of seeing his dead brother and others who he has lost such as his friend who died in the military, but when the girl he falls in love with's life is at risk, he must choose between his girlfriend and his brother.

Director:

Burr Steers

Writers:

Craig Pearce (screenplay), Lewis Colick (screenplay)

Stars:

Zac Efron, Kim Basinger, Charlie Tahan

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zac Efron	...	Charlie St. Cloud
Charlie Tahan	...	Sam St. Cloud
Amanda Crew	...	Tess Carroll
Augustus Prew	...	Alistair Woolley
Donal Logue	...	Tink Weatherbee
Kim Basinger	...	Claire St. Cloud
Ray Liotta	...	Florio Ferrente
Dave Franco	...	Sully
Matt Ward	...	Connors
Miles Chalmers	...	Latham
Jesse Wheeler	...	Greene Student
Desiree Zurowski	...	Carla Ferrente
Adrian Hough	...	Ben Carroll
Jill Teed	...	Grace Carroll
Valerie Tian	...	Girl in Toy Store

Storyline

Fatherless golden high school boy Charlie St. Cloud had a golden future, handsome, popular and admitted to Stanford on a scholarship, even recruited for a prestigious yacht sailing team. But shortly after graduating, Charlie feels existentially guilty about the death of his doting, beloved kid brother Sam whom he was driving to a playmate when a crashing car killed the junior. Charlie pledges to continue the baseball practice he promised to continue until entering Stanford, which he now ditches fro a menial job as graveyard keeper, while their mother shamelessly moved out of state, and tends to the grave of his Vietnam-killed former school buddy Sully, the second ghost who binds his sole to their beach home town. He's finally tempted to start living his own life again when he meets a female sailor his age about to embark on a transatlantic voyage and spends a ho night, but still can't 'leave Sam'. Only when he hears the authorities give up searching for her, having gone missing at sea...

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Plot Keywords:

ghost | seeing dead people | talking with the dead | death of brother | brother brother relationship | 

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Taglines:

Life is for living

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual references, an intense accident scene and some sensuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

If the film had been shot in the United States, Charlie St. Cloud could have dealt with Canada geese at the cemetery, but because it was shot outside Vancouver, Canada geese could not be used since they are a protected species. Real geese were used instead.

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Goofs

Zac Efron had a mole on his left cheek removed after principal photography wrapped in October 2009. In May of 2010 he did a re-shoot of the scene where he shows Tess his new boat. The mole is present for the whole film, then disappears.

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Quotes

Sam St. Cloud: Mom's gonna kill us!
Charlie St. Cloud: Don't worry. I'll take the blame.
Sam St. Cloud: God, I hurt so much.
[Florio's flashlight shines near their car]
Sam St. Cloud: What's that?
Charlie St. Cloud: They're looking for us.
Sam St. Cloud: Who?
Charlie St. Cloud: I don't know.
Sam St. Cloud: Whatever happens, please, just don't leave me okay?
Charlie St. Cloud: I won't.
[...]

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Connections

Featured in 2011 MTV Movie Awards (2011)

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Soundtracks

While We Were Dreaming
Written by Stephen McBean
Performed by Pink Mountaintops
Courtesy of Jagjaguwar

User Reviews

Beautifully filmed but story telling is poor

This film is about a young man who loses his younger brother to a traffic accident. He remains locked in a state of grief until he rekindles with his friend from high school.

"Charlie St. Cloud" is beautifully filmed, with great artistic scenes and amazing sceneries. Cinematography is great, and many scenes are so beautiful that they could become postcards. However, the story is not as good, it is not very engaging. I find the plot unconvincing and the story telling is rather poor. The romance Charlie and the girl develops is unconvincing and contrived, and the emotional burden and guilt of Charlie could have been explored further.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Spain]

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

Filming Locations:

128th Street & Old Yale Road, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$44,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,381,585, 1 August 2010

Gross USA:

$31,162,545

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$48,190,704

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Marc Platt Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1