Chasing Mavericks is the first feature film from Oscar winner Curtis Hanson since, uh, 2007’s Lucky You, and if the dialogue feels a bit more banal and generically inspirational than anything Hanson gave us in L.A. Confidential or Wonder Boys or even 8 Mile, at least there’s a whole lot of gorgeous surf photography. Gerard Butler plays a reclusive older surfer who takes real-life surf icon Jay Moriarty (played here by relative newcomer Jonny Weston) under his wing to train him for the gigantic NorCal waves known as Mavericks. Supportive wives and mothers Abigail Spencer and Elisabeth Shue lend a maternal touch/do laundry.
