Tag Archives: Charlie St. Cloud

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The Lucky One (On The Couch 2012 #7)

This one is more “On the Window Seat” than “On the Couch.” I saw The Lucky One, which I keep mistakenly calling The Vow on a flight from California to Hawaii. I’m not sure why I chose watching this movie over reading my book or playing with my iPad, but I did, and here we are.

Wrong movie.

The Lucky One is Rambo, if Rambo were made by Lifetime. Both Logan, Zac Efron’s character and John Rambo are veterans trying to find their place in the world. Both Logan and John Rambo move to new towns and immediately become unfairly targeted by a sheriff who has no respect for veterans. Rambo has explosions. The Lucky One has montages.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with montages as a storytelling device. But The Lucky One has lots of montages. I had to double-check to make sure the movie wasn’t directed by Garry Marshall. There are at least a half dozen montages in it. This just comes off as lazy storytelling. It seemed like whenever time needed to move forward, The Lucky One would jump into a montage.

I want to propose a new law. This law would limit the number of montages allowed in one movie. I’m calling it Logan’s Law. Please lend your support and contact your local congressman or screenwriter.

The Lucky One also has Zac Efron in a beard, because if he wasn’t, you’d spend the movie wondering, “What kind of country sends a 12 year old off to war?”

In the battle of Zac Efron movies involving dead brothers, Charlie St. Cloud beats The Lucky One.

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On The Couch #48: Charlie St. Cloud

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t seen Charlie St. Cloud yet, and your desire to see it isn’t just based on wanting to ogle Zac Efron, you might want to come back to this post later. If you’ve seen the movie, only want to see it to ogle Zac Efron or have no interest in seeing it, than please come right in!

If your interest in Charlie St. Cloud was based purely on ogling Zac Efron, you should really check out the deleted scenes. The first one answers the question on everyone’s mind during the movie, namely “How has Charlie St. Cloud stayed so buff these last five years?” The scene is nothing but a tank-topped Zac Efron doing pull-ups, bicep calls and jumping rope. I feel like this scene was filmed just for the deleted scenes, to give all the squealing girls who saw Charlie St. Cloud in theaters a reason to buy the DVD.

Everyone knows this is why you wanted to see Charlie St. Cloud. You might as well admit it.

I was perfectly content for Charlie St. Cloud to just have flipped his lid when his brother died. He plays catch with this dead brother every day and eventually has to choose between his fantasy construct or his new, real, live love.

But wait! Everything you knew was a lie! His imaginary brother and dead military friend? Actual ghosts! His live girlfriend? Also a ghost! Say what? It’s true. I have it on good authority that during the premiere of Charlie St. Cloud, director Burr Steers yelled “M. Night Shyamalan ain’t got shit on me!”

Once you’ve wrapped your head around those twists, another one spins you around. Despite appearing to Charlie as a ghost, his girlfriend Tess isn’t dead! Like Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride, she’s only mostly dead. And if I learned anything from The Princess Bride, being mostly dead means she’s still a little alive. Charlie and company sail out to save her, aided by Charlie’s brother who points out Tess’s location like a signal flare on his way to heaven! Crazy!

I got that same medal on a Carnival cruise. What’s the matter, St. Cloud? Not good enough for the ship on a stick trophy?
Donal Logue plays Tess’s sailing coach. I really liked Donal Logue in Grounded for Life and The Tao of Steve. I can’t believe how much weight he’s lost since the last time I’ve seen him in something. He looks completely different now. Good job, Donal.

Remarkably, I enjoyed Charlie St. Cloud more than this synopsis might lead you to believe. But I did. It’s true. I liked that it wasn’t just a story about crazy Charlie who imagines his dead brother and how Charlie’s mind is saved by Tess’s love. And I’m enjoying it more after the fact, because I really love explaining twist after twist to my friends.