Sappy 'Charlie St. Cloud' aims for the tear ducts

Mystical stories about star-crossed teen lovers, and baseball-mitt pounding kid brothers from beyond, aren't exactly my cup of saccharine-laced tea.

But if you have to look at something like that, you could probably do worse than "Charlie St. Cloud." It's a good-looking movie, well shot in the Pacific Northwest. Its lovers are good-looking and likeably flirtatious. Professional cutie-pie Zac Efron (of the awful "High School Musical" movies and the very good "Me and Orson Welles") plays the title character: guilt-plagued Charlie McCloud. And Amanda Crew is svelte and spunky boating enthusiast Tess Carroll.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a movie that makes a lick of sense, you're better off going back to "Inception" for another shot, or waiting for some new ultra-realistic American indie.

"Charlie St. Cloud" plays like something that might have slipped away from Nicholas Sparks on an off day. The movie begins with the brothers McCloud, poorer kids mingling with the smug rich ones, winning a sailboat race and jumping and hugging each other in sunny freeze-frames.

It's too sweet to last. Soon we're introduced to their pretty single mom, Kim Basinger as Claire St. Cloud. And, all too soon, the brothers have driven off together in the night (Sam insisted on tagging along, which is a real danger sign) and gotten involved in a horrendous car-car-truck accident that results in Sam's death and the temporary flat-lining of Charlie. He's saved by gabby paramedic Florio Ferrente (Ray Liotta).

But Sam (smashingly played by Charlie Tahan) isn't gone. His spirit lingers on, pounding his baseball mitt in the nearby forest, and waiting for faithful Charlie, who has promised to meet Sam every day for a game of catch and a catch-up confab. Nobody else can see Sam of course, which eventually leaves them wondering why Charlie is babbling so fervently to the air and the trees.

Five years pass. Mom Claire has left Charlie and relocated (I really wondered about her readiness to leave both her dead son and the living one). And Charlie has gotten a job at the local cemetery so he can be near Sam and any other stray spirits who might materialize. He has a nearly incomprehensible Brit buddy named Alistair (Augustus Prew) and a crush on a fetching lass who shows up at the cemetery: a Kate Beckinsale-ish ex-classmate named Tess (Amanda Crew), who makes a fuss about the cemetery flower arrangements.

You may wonder why Charlie has been able to show up every day for that game of catch. I wondered myself. No sickness? No pressing engagements? No thunderstorms? What will the poor guy do when Tess on her boat gets predictably lost in a storm? Take a rain check?

Tune in tomorrow. Meanwhile, with Efron staring mooningly at Tess and the camera, "Charlie St. Cloud" may please teens or tweens. Boating enthusiasts and devotees of loves beyond the grave may brush away a tear or two.

But how much can you expect of a movie with a paramedic named Florio Ferrente and a ghost with a baseball mitt?