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Charlie St. Cloud is Up For Grabs and You Can Win!

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Tonight I sat down with my oldest daughter to watch Charlie St. Cloud. I’m going to be honest here when I tell you this. There were exactly two reasons why I wanted to see Charlie St. Cloud. 

The first was for Amanda Crew. Amanda Crew is not only Canadian and lovely to look at, but she was super gracious when I asked to take her picture at the end of The Repeaters premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. I like her. 
The second was for this.
efron.jpg
Go ahead and judge. But Mr. Efron’s abs have come a long way since Troy Bolton played basketball in three High School Musical movies. 
Now, here’s the thing. The movie is anything but a campy musical. No, you guys, Zac Efron does what he set out to do…prove to people that he is, in fact, leading man material. And, I will be honest. I enjoyed him.
Unfortunately, though, with the exception of the performances…Efron, Crew, and Ray Liotta brought the chops, the movie falls a little bit, um, flat for me.
Zac Efron plays Charlie St. Cloud, a sailor with an upcoming scholarship and a big brother who promises to teach his brother Sam to play baseball – every day at sunset. Everything – scholarship included – is put on hold as the precocious Sam is killed by a drunk driver. Charlie’s world collapses, and the only thing keeping him afloat is the daily sunset baseball lesson with Sam. So, Charlie sees dead people (not exactly a new concept in movies…) and his daily meetups are put to the test when a girl from his past returns after five years. 
I mean, sure, there are shades of Ghost and Field of Dreams and The Sixth Sense at play here, and for a while, I buy it. I am familiar with the willing suspension of disbelief and I like the relationships between Charlie and Sam, Charlie and his co-cemetery caretaker, and Charlie and the lovely Tess. 
But the movie is just a little too clumsy and inconsistent. Things don’t add up, and I actually found myself re-watching scenes to try to make sense of certain parts. What are the rules here? Charlie talks to dead people. How come he can only talk to Sam at sunset, but can talk to someone else right in the middle of the cemetery….just like that? There’s a big twist towards the end, and I am still kicking myself that I didn’t pick up on it. 
My daughter, though, SHE LOVED IT.
She loved the brother and brother relationship, she loved the romance, she loved the banter. She didn’t even notice the inconsistencies and her world was absolutely rocked by the twist. (She hasn’t seen The Sixth Sense yet. I can’t wait until she gets a load of that puppy…she doesn’t even know from surprise endings).
So, even though it wasn’t my favorite movie, I enjoyed watching it with Emily…and if you have a tweenager in your neck of the woods, or if you are just a sucker for a shirtless hottie (spoiler alert: Charlie is a sailor. He spends a lot of the movie sans shirt), I have a chance for you to win one of five copies of Charlie St. Cloud on DVD. 

charlie.jpg

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your favorite movie featuring, well, ghosts is. I’m fairly certain mine was Field of Dreams, although Ghostbusters and the Shelley Long movie Hello Again is seriously still one of my most favorite movies ever. So, leave a comment between today, Wednesday, December 1st and Thursday December 9th, and our friends at random.org will choose FIVE winners! Good luck! 

Click here for contest Rules and Regulations. 

UrbanMoms.ca members are eligible to win so don’t forget to sign-in.  Not a member yet?  Click here to join!

Comments

  3. Kiki says

    I’ll have to say ‘Always’ (Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman) because this was my first “date”… it was in grade 9 and I told my parents that I was going with a group of friends, but it was just me and the guy who asked me out. The movie wasn’t that good, but the memory is just so sweet and innocent.

  4. lrcig says

    Gotta be Ghost! Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze for passion, yearning, tenderness (and flat-out gorgeousness!) … Whoopi Goldberg for outrageous humour and style … Tony Goldwyn as the creep you love to hate … brilliant turn by Vincent Schiavelli as the ghost on the subway … the best romantic scene where Sam and Molly get to dance (via Oda Mae) to the lush sounds of the Righteous Brothers. This movie came out the year I was married and has been one of my favourites ever since. I still cry buckets every time I watch it!

  7. katylava says

    Oh, there’s so many good ones! Casper was such a fun one for kids, and Sixth Sense is great for adults! I think my favourite would have to be good old Ghostbusters though. Fun for the whole family! 🙂

  10. Sarah says

    My favourite ghost movie has to be ‘Ghost’ I just love Patrick Swayze (RIP), but it’s closely followed by Casper!

  13. jcm says

    Ghost for me too!! It touches the heart and soul.
    P.S. My 12 yr old loves Zac & so would love the dvd

  20. Wendy says

    My favourite ghost movie would have to be the Shining, based on Steven King’s novel. Now that one was scary!

  22. trishie says

    For me, Bratt Pitt’s “Meet Joe Black”…ok so he was more like the grim reaper but not to be overlooked – a great movie!

  28. Rita says

    My favourite movie involving ghosts would be A Christmas Carol – the original black & white version. If I saw ghosts like that, I’d hide under my covers too!!

  30. judcon says

    I would have to say Field of Dreams – I am a strong believer in the power of believing in something and it will happen

  32. JJ says

    I give my vote to Ghostbusters. Although it is dated now, for its time it was a wonderful entertaining movie for children and adults.

  37. lisa says

    At this time of year- I like the Disney animation cartoon movie “Mickey’s Christmas Carol”. Thanks

  45. chloeanna says

    mine would be casper..came out about 1993, such a cute movie..wish i could find a copy around, would love my kids to see it..

  46. slp says

    My favourite was Sixth Sense. It always amazes me how children actors can portray these parts and not get scared themselves.Haley Joel Osment was outstanding in this film

  47. mommabird2345 says

    I haven’t seen it in a LONG time, but I liked the movie Heart & Souls with Robert Downey Jr. I also remember The Others with Nicole Kidman being kind of creepy.

  48. Lori says

    My tween keeps mentioning this movie… I thought it might be too old for her, but will check it out after your review.

  50. jmeme says

    Ghostbusters is an old time favourite of mine. My kids enjoyed watching it too! The Ghostbuster’s theme song is really catchy- “Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!”

  52. Kerri Anne says

    While I can’t get behind lusting after Zac Efron’s abs (They are great! I just…I don’t know. He’s just too young for me not to feel like a huge cougar? Which makes no logical sense, seeing as how I have no problem lusting over Jacob Lautner’s abs, ahem…), I do verily want to see this movie.
    And ghost movies! THERE ARE SO MANY GREAT ONES.
    You already said Field of Dreams, which is one of my all-time favorite movies ever. I verily love Ghost and Ghostbusters, too, and I have probably seen Casper at least ten times. I had a HUGE crush on Devon Sawa back in the day.
    What’s the ghost movie with Bill Cosby? Ghost Dad? That movie is sort of awesome.
    YES. GHOST DAD: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099654/

  53. JCram says

    Meh. Ghosts are okay…but my favourite film of all time is True Romance. Or Sleepers.
    Not quite sure what that says about me…!

  54. tobyhir says

    Ghost!! I can watch it over and over…and Whoopi has me laughing out loud every time!! A classic!!