Yes,
it apparently took two veteran directors to make this overwhelmingly bland and
routine surfing drama whose earnestness, sentimentality and good intentions are
presumably meant to excuse its sheer weakness.
It’s a true-life story based on a young man named Jay Moriarty, who is
portrayed by Jonny Weston as the most pure-hearted being who ever walked the
earth save only Jesus and maybe Superman.
There is nothing unique or remotely interesting about Weston, who was
obviously selected because he looks exactly like the all-American Hollywood
jock types who appear in almost every other movie. Why is it considered necessary to present a
protagonist as so irreproachably perfect and moral? It’s boring, fake and pretty condescending
too. If the real Moriarty was, in fact,
a faultless, superior human being as the film claims, then it was the
obligation of the filmmakers to do something to offset this weirdness with
something compelling. Instead, what we
have as examples of worldly corruption are a series of preposterous and
simplistic subplots involving a battered wife, a terminally ill wife, a friend
caught up in drugs, a gruff loner who doesn’t believe in miracles, and of
course the worst evil of all in today’s world, bullying. There are so many clichés that it’s almost
alarming how precisely they can be clicked off, as though you and the
filmmakers are referencing the exact same checklist. The only area of interest the film offers is
its impressive cinematography underwater and in its surfing scenes. As a family-friendly film with an inspiring
(vaguely religious) message, Chasing
Mavericks is a prime example of why this sub-genre is so widely reviled.
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