It was directed by Curtis Hanson and Michael Apted, and stars Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue, Abigail Spencer, and Leven Rambin.

In 1987, an 8-year-old boy in Santa Cruz, California named Jay Moriarity is saved from drowning by his next door neighbor, surfer Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler).

One morning, Jay (Jonny Weston), now 15, sees Frosty leaving early and hitches a ride on his van.

He sees Frosty and three of his friends riding a gigantic swell known as Mavericks which, with El Niño coming in, will be at its height in three months' time.

Jay gets closer to Kim as he trains, partially encouraged by Frosty's wife, Brenda (Abigail Spencer).

On Jay's 16th birthday on June 15, 1994, his mother (Elisabeth Shue) gives him a radio to listen to weather broadcasts and track the swell.

Frosty had wanted to keep Mavericks a secret, but Jay's notebook that he had been using for preparation ends up in the hands of his rival Sonny (Taylor Handley).

The site's consensus states: "It's sweet, gentle, and affably modest, but Chasing Mavericks is ultimately pulled under by an unconvincing script and a puzzling lack of energy.

And the cinematography of the big Mavericks scene by Oliver Euclid and Bill Pope is so frightening that you sort of understand why Frosty stays on the shore, watching Jay with binoculars.