Chasing Mavericks, which tells the true story of legendary surfer Jay Moriarty and his mentor Frosty Hesson, is one of those rare films that despite its many flaws, manages to be a likeable and vaguely satisfying experience. It follows the generic inspirational sports movie template to the letter, with plenty of coming-of-age clichés thrown in to boot, like The Karate Kid at sea.
Jay, played by Jonny Weston, lives with his mother (Elisabeth Shue) in a ramshackle house in Santa Cruz, California. His father is long gone and his mother can hardly keep a job thanks to a vague drinking problem and general flakiness, leading them to rent out the back room for some extra cash. An early scene shows Jay getting in a scrap with their most recent lodger, letting us know that this kid is badly in need of a mentor.
Thankfully, he has surfing to keep him focused and he befriends local surfing guru Frosty (Gerard Butler). Frosty is prone to slipping out in the wee hours of the morning to head up the coast to ride the mythical waves at Mavericks, an infamous surfing location in Northern California. Jay hitches a ride one morning, unbeknownst to Frosty, and spots waves bigger than he’s ever seen before. He’s determined to ride these waves and wants Frosty to show him the way.
Chasing Mavericks ticks off all the coming-of-age sports movie clichés one by one: the absentee parents, the mentor who teaches him as much about life as he does about sport, the best friend who’s going off the rails a little bit and of course, the ridiculous bully who eventually develops some begrudging respect for the hero.
The dialogue in the tepid script is preposterous right from the off and never really improves, landing clunkers like “We all come from the sea, but we’re not all of the sea”. As well as the on-the-nose dialogue, the script is just generally ill-judged, following the sports movie template almost to the letter yet throwing in events that may well have happened in real life but just don’t gel with the rest of the story.
The cast is hit and miss, with earnest newcomer Jonny Weston not really displaying the kind of charisma you’d expect from a man who became such a legend and Gerard Butler is stuck doling out preposterous life advice in his typical shaky American accent. The supporting cast are similarly ropey though Elisabeth Shue does a solid job with her few scenes and Abigail Spencer, as Frosty’s wife, is better than she needs to be.
Without doubt the best aspect of the film is the impressive surf scenes which appear to be a close representation of the sport and all of its exhilarating highs and terrifying lows.
What attracted a talent like Curtis Hanson to take on this script is anyone’s guess but he is a gifted storyteller and makes the most of the lacklustre material, with the help of Michael Apted who took over when Hanson was struck down with illness late in the production. Chasing Mavericks is a flawed and forgettable film but makes for fairly inoffensive family fare.
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