His latest film marks a rise, and a dip, on Zac Efron's creative trajectory. Moving beyond high-school roles and away from the song-and-dance silliness of "Hairspray" and "High School Musical," he takes a confident half-step toward becoming a mature romantic lead. The film itself? Not so good.

"Charlie St. Cloud" is an over-sentimental effort that incorporates love, drama, bereavement, comedy, seagoing adventure and mystical uplift, like a Baskin-Robbins cone precariously balancing all 31 flavors. But Efron is not complacently relying on his looks, like a junior varsity Ben Affleck.

Charlie is a champion sailor heading to Stanford on an athletic scholarship when a horrible mistake ruins his dreams. His future crushed, Charlie signs on as a cemetery caretaker. He becomes locked in his own head, unable to connect. Who will rescue this emotionally withdrawn dreamboat? Could it be feisty, beautiful Tess Carroll (Amanda Crew), a former classmate who plans to be one of the first women to sail solo around the globe?

Who saves whom and how is one of the film's secrets, but fans of "Titanic" and "Ghost" will feel as if they're watching a double feature. The near-death trauma that derailed Charlie's life gave him the ability to see spirits. For much of the film, we can interpret his visions as symbols of our loused-up hero's unresolved emotional issues. As it turns out, the apparitions are real, and they play a key role in the rescue-at-sea finale. The gimmick is staggeringly absurd, but fans of transcendent love stories like to believe that our souls can do impossible things, so let them have their fun.

In some more enjoyable passages, Efron aims to stretch beyond bland, boyish affability. Let's not overstate things: He doesn't have the rebel reflexes of a natural antihero or the acting technique to convert brooding into a poetic statement. But it's clear Efron's working at becoming something more than catnip for the Hot Topic crowd. He's trying on dark, complicated emotions for size. There's a moment of genuine drama when a taunting former classmate of Charlie's pops up to sneer and Charlie snaps. He comes off not as a hero confronting a bully but as a guy who needs to get a grip on himself. It's not groundbreaking, but it's a move in the right direction.

Director Burr Steers captures the weathered beauty of a New England seaside community and the peach-cheeked good looks of his star in countless amber-tinted sunset close-ups. Efron and Charlie Tahan, who plays his 11-year-old brother, have the best acting moments, demonstrating a likably cantankerous chemistry.

The other actors fare poorly. Crew is an underdeveloped love interest -- it's not clear what's so special about her. Ray Liotta and Kim Basinger are squandered in brief cameos. But then we must understand that this project is a mainstream star vehicle for a matinee idol. "Charlie St. Cloud" will have Zac fans snapping in the breeze like so many spinnakers. The rest of us will be a little bit seasick.