Stars: Zac Efron, Charlie Tahan, Amanda Crew, Augustus Prew, Kim Basinger, Ray Liotta 99 mins

★★

OR I See Dead People. Or A Dozen Excuses For Zac Efron To Go Topless. The High School Music star is all at sea as young sailor and local regatta hero Charlie who’s great pals with his younger brother Sam (Charlie Tahan).

With going away to college looming, ever-so-nice Charlie promises Sam they’ll play an hour of baseball every day to ensure his little brother can pitch properly.

Tragedy strikes. Sam is killed in a car smash. That doesn’t stop him turning up at sunset every day for that knockabout.

Charlie abandons his college plans to work in the cemetery so he can honour the promise to his brother. He also develops a fondness for Tess (Amanda Crew) who’s planning to sail around the world. From this point, things get increasingly whimsical with Charlie getting wetter and wetter – and not from just being immersed in the sea for so long.

Efron is adequate, although the excuses for him to pose manfully in various states of nautical undress become increasingly laughable. Kim Basinger has a spit and a cough as his mother, while Ray Liotta is the medic who saves Charlie from a fate worse than death.