So, the trailer for “Charlie St. Cloud” has been released and it’s the life-affirming Zac Efron drama you’ve all been waiting for, right? Right. The trailer, which you can watch below, seems to be the sort of schmaltzy family fare you would expect from the description. The film also marks director Burr Steers’ second collaboration with Efron since 2009’s “17 Again” Here’s a studio supplied synopsis:
‘Charlie St. Cloud’ is a romantic drama starring Zac Efron as a young man who survives an accident that lets him see the world in a unique way. In this emotionally charged story, he begins a romantic journey in which he embraces the dark realities of the past while discovering the transformative power of love.
Powerful stuff, hey? By watching the trailer, you’ll quickly learn that his “unique way” of seeing the world is code for visitations from his younger brother’s ghost who died in a car accident.
But, the trailer does prominently feature some family-safe indie rock in Snow Patrol’s lighter anthem “Run” as well as The National’s “So Far Around The Bend,” a track that employs the instrumental arrangements of “The Reader” composer Nico Muhly. The National, whose recent album release High Violet does not feature this track (so much for direct cross-advertising), were also recently featured in a D.A. Pennebaker-directed webcast of a Brooklyn concert on May 15th. Some of us here also think they’re a bit overrated and a little Milquetoast-y, so we kind of snicker at their association with this cornball Zac Efron film (yes, we’ll win no fans with this posit, oh well).
