As bleak and as uncomfortable as this film often feels, Downhill ultimately has some heartening things to say about marriage. In “Downhill,” the free-floating domestic aggro mood sets the table for the film’s central incident: Pete, Billie, and their boys, Finn (Julian Grey) and Emerson (Ammon Jacob Ford), are having lunch on the deck of the restaurant, with its spectacular view of the snow-capped Austrian mountains. Not a completely terrible movie — mostly thanks to Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus — but one that strands its stars in situations that are at once impossible and insufficiently challenging. Directors: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash In Ostlund's original, that setup yielded biting black humor but also blistering unease as the icy aftershocks cut deep fissures in the marriage while exposing the fragility of traditional models of masculinity and smashing the reassuring illusion of the paterfamilias as protector. Sitemap | But it suffers a little outside of that core duo. The superficial characterization of a miscast Will Ferrell doesn't help, but the more crippling issue is the filmmakers' fumbling grasp of tone in material that just seems a poor fit. That’s a question that hovers over the movie, as the family members hit the slopes and make pilgrimages to the alpine-lodge restaurant, or retire to their room, where they always feel vaguely guilty about playing games or watching TV, since they could do that anywhere. Left half-traumatised by the avalanche, she puts on a brave face until the stuff left unsaid becomes too much left unsaid. And then there’s the writing/directing duo—Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, who previously made a family summer comedy to remember with “The Way Way Back,” working with “Succession” writer Jesse Armstrong. This is not only one of those cases in which a U.S. makeover adds nothing to a memorable foreign-language film, it's the doubly dispiriting variation in which the more commercially minded overhaul relentlessly drains everything that was distinctive, edgy and original about the source. Ferrell, on the other hand, just goes from belligerent dishonesty to pathetic helplessness, unable even to communicate with Pete's boys, whom the script gives almost no role beyond that of routine sullenness and increased clinginess toward their mother. When Pete tries to make the situation right by arranging a morning of helicopter skiing (whatever that is), it just makes things more wrong. In each film, the mood is heavy with unspoken tension, and what that represents is the subtle breakdown of family closeness that has accompanied the 21st century, with its everyone-on-their-own-digital-device detachment. She again balances brittle wit with somber emotional depths in Downhill, though sadly, her performance is pretty much all this inert blunder has going for it. It’s an enviable roster, and while the remake never quite escapes the snowy shadow of its source, there’s still a lot to admire. It's a complete ripoff of "Force Majeure" without any apoligies. It's simply impossible to watch Downhill without feeling that it's just a retread of Force Majeure with all of its prickly edges carefully sanded off for an international audience. The avalanche incident hangs over Billie and Pete for the rest of the trip, and tension mounts as Pete shows more of his cowardly, selfish true self. Executive producer: Erik Hemmendorff Copyright © Fandango. And in one of the story’s mildly amusing scenes, she asserts her autonomy during her time with tempting ski instructor Gugliemo. Sidney Poitier’s 7 Most Memorable Performances, All Harry Potter Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer. When Pete finally wises up enough to admit he behaved like a "selfish coward," there's no sense of tough self-examination or any real personal cost in Ferrell's shallow performance. Two Eurotrash caricatures, in particular — a sexually liberated hotel rep and a hunky ski instructor — feel like they’ve skied in from a different film, given all the restraint shown elsewhere. It’s yet another instance in which it’s hard to not think about what could have been, especially since the original did it so much better. For Ferrell, this is where a movie that took more advantage of his talents could have excelled, and instead it casts him so that you always see his man-child characters of the past. This American rethink of 2014 Swedish film Force Majeure isn't quite as bad as might be expected, but lacks the emotional power or frosty devastation of the original. If if it were a Julia Louis-Dreyfus TV series, it might have been a backbiting lark of marital discord. By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy Costume designer: Kathleen Felix-Hager But now there’s no pretending they’re having fun — or maybe, in destroying all pretense, the incident can liberate them. A “controlled avalanche” set off by the resort’s management looks as if it’s going out of control and heading for the outdoor restaurant where the family is about to have lunch. 10:15 PM PST 1/26/2020 ‘Downhill’: Film Review Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus star in a remake of the 2014 Swedish Hitchcockian ski-slope art thriller that stays true (enough) to the original. Had Downhill looked halfway competent its shortcomings might not chafe quite so much, but almost every shot feels just a little off, every composition oddly clumsy. The justification is right there on screen as you watch “Downhill.” It’s not as intense or furrowed-brow an experience as “Force Majeure” was; it’s not trying to be. Like too many American movie comedies these days, “Downhill” seems afraid of its own shadow. And when Billie and Pete go to an icy hotel figurehead (Kristofer Hivju) to complain about the dangerous explosion, Pete fails to support her—especially when it’s revealed that he initially saw signs warning about the explosion, and just didn’t think to say anything about it. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell as a couple on an Alpine ski trip, which is not the worst premise. But it doesn’t work out that way. [Full review in Spanish]. 'Downhill': Film Review | Sundance 2020. Rated R A man sneaks into the bathroom, voicing his intention to shower with his wife. “Downhill” is a vacation-gone-wrong comedy that lives up to its ill-advised title. Lonely Mountains: Downhill Review - A Mountain Biking Game For Everyone. At this point, “Downhill” becomes Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ movie, and she gives a wry, funny, altogether possessed performance as a wife and mother who has grown deeply, if temporarily, unhappy with everything she has. Co-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Way Way Back), putting their stamp on an initial adaptation by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, instead operate mainly in a comedy-of-awkwardness vein that's seldom particularly funny. Reviews Downhill Nick Allen February 14, 2020. The ending of the original film is stranger and more nuanced, too, leaving things on a bittersweet, ambiguous note. Downhill lives up to its title. 710067). 10:15 PM PST 1/26/2020 by THR Staff FACEBOOK; TWITTER; EMAIL ME; YOUTUBE; Force mineure. As the snow crashes down toward them, Pete chooses his cell phone and himself, darting away from the table as Billie holds onto her sons for dear life. Director of photography: Danny Cohen This thread also goes nowhere beyond some crudely executed physical comedy for Louis-Dreyfus (warning: do not try masturbating while standing up in snow boots) that just trivializes what the character is going through. With Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Will Ferrell, Zach Woods, Zoe Chao. Downhill, like its brash American protagonists, is far more abrasive about its intentions than the very emotionally reserved Forced Majeure. But the corrosive soul-searching spurred in Hivju's Force Majeure character by his buddy's family crisis has no echo in blandly drawn Zach. For every moment that is genuinely hilarious and great, there is another that drags on or doesn't quite land. (Pete can’t stop peeking at his cell phone, all to placate his work colleague.) Lacking chemistry between the two leads, the bottom of Downhill's slippery slope is unsatisfying. Filed under julia louis-dreyfus , miranda otto , movie reviews , sundance film festival , will ferrell , 1/29/20 TWITTER With all of this talent on hand, it’s a let down to see them soften the edges in this depiction of a marriage dealing with disaster, and then try to make it familiar with some cheap comedy. The Americanisation of the story leads to some fairly cheap fish-out-of-water tourist gags. Starring opposite James Gandolfini in Nicole Holofcener's Enough Said, Julia Louis-Dreyfus showed that her signature acerbic humor and killer timing could very effectively be redirected to access her character's inner life in a dramatic role. Directed by Nat Faxon, Jim Rash. Except that no one will even talk about it for a day or two. Comparing the two is a dispiriting exercise. This movie starts off with potential, but goes downhill pretty quickly (pun intended). The film isn’t sure whether to take Pete’s side or Billie’s, or if it should really take a side at all, and so it hovers like an insincere friend, nodding and chuckling and refusing to judge. The laughs, when they come, are muted, icy and deeply passive aggressive. But in its winking 86-minute way, it stays true to what gave “Force Majeure” its force. The scene leaves you wishing that if the story was going more for dysfunctional vacation comedy, that Louis-Dreyfus could have gotten the chance for similar laughs. It’s only when the physically harmless but emotionally catastrophic avalanche hits (much has changed in the transfer, but that moment is extremely faithful to the original) that he becomes like a cornered animal, unable to stop burrowing deeper holes for himself with terrible choices and worse lies. It's clear Pete is feeling the shrinking pleasures of marriage, fatherhood and middle age, and craving youthful adventure. THR Staff I realise why you take great foreign language movies and remake them for English speaking audiences but I'm not sure there's a single element of Downhill that is the equal of the original film. For a start, it is not exactly the film you might expect from these two actors — or even from the trailers, which promised a bog-standard goofy chucklefest. NYFF 2020: Night of the Kings, Atarrabi and Mikelats, The Salt of Tears, An Open Letter to Cuties Director Maïmouna Doucouré from Female Filmmakers, Excellent Performances Lead Hulu's Disturbing Horror Series Monsterland, The Walking Dead: World Beyond Shows Few Signs of Life. Terms of Use | That includes her intervention on Billie's solo day, when she pimps out hot Italian ski instructor Guglielmo (Giulio Berruti) to help loosen up the American guest. Every movie, even a remake, deserves to be viewed on its own merits. About Our Ads YOUTUBE. Sign up here. Pete flees in a panic, grabbing his phone and leaving Billie with the terrified children. But while simmering Billie takes a solo day, Zach and Pete just drift off into tiresome dude stuff, involving afternoon drinking and a messy dance club interlude. What to do? Editors: Pamela Martin, Dave Rennie The familiarity of these characters can make “Downhill” even more dull, even if they’re meant to offer overt comic relief. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell as a couple on an Alpine ski trip, which is not the worst premise. Perhaps the most glaring example of Naxon and Rash's muddled approach is Charlotte, a louche resort employee who advocates hard-partying hedonism, spending her winters sleeping with guests and her summers back on the farm with her husband. Are they having fun yet?

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