Downhill

Downhill is a Remake of the 2015 film Force Majure. And Stars Julia Luis Dreyfus and Will Farrell. This movie premiered at Sundance so I was super excited for it, but now that I've seen it I'm a little disappointed. I will say I really enjoyed the cinematography and set design of the film. Those things mixed with a whimsical score gave it a Wes Anderson type of feel. Now as for the things I didn't like, I found both the characters in the movie very annoying and both very selfish which made the move hard to sit through. And the reason for the couples argument aka the whole backbone of the movie felt really shallow.

Billie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Pete Staunton (Will Ferrell) are on an Austrian ski vacation with their two boys. Charlotte (Miranda Otto) is the sex obsessed resort manager. Something happens which puts doubt into the Staunton marriage.

This is an American remake of the great film, Force Majeure, by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund. It has been rewritten and directed by comedic actors, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. They have become a great filmmaker duo following two poignant films with nice comedic touches; The Way Way Back and The Descendants. This one is a great disappointment. As a remake, this is an utter failure. It takes the unsaid and say it out loud. It takes the regular life and makes it wacky. While there are some compelling moves, this keeps feeling wrong.

I try to envision not watching Force Majeure first and imagine watching this with virgin eyes. I don't know who came up with Charlotte but she seems to inhabit a wacky Will Ferrell comedy. I do not like Otto's accent or her character. The movie is trying to be wacky and then like an avalanche, it tries to be serious. It can be funny and serious but wackiness can often clash. In the big overarching premise, it's trying to be a wacky ski comedy from the 80's with a gigolo ski teacher and a swinging manager. It doesn't need it and doesn't want it. There are moments that intrigue me. I didn't really like Zach and Rosie except one moment at the end of the scene where Rosie is looking at Zach. I like the resolution of Billie and Pete but it goes a step too far. That's this movie at its core. I like a lot of it but it always goes one step too far. I hate Charlotte and the movie would be far superior without her. Overall, this has some moments but it keeps getting it wrong.

I was interested in seeing this film because I love Julie Louis Dreyfus' acting and Jessie Armstrong's writing. To be fair I'm not a fan of Will Ferrell but I thought with a good leading lady, good writing and a wonderful story..how can you go wrong?? Boy did it go wrong. Boring dialogue, slow and tedious, bad acting (Will Ferrell) and no real story.

It was neither a comedy or a drama. If it was intended to be both it failed on each front. The intended comedic/dramatic lines were dull and pedestrian. Although I'm not giving up on Ms. Dreyfus or Jessie Armstrong's genius, I'd recommend just skipping this one.

Torture watching this movie. Would have walked out but my wife liked the Austrian mountain ski scenes. Nothing else about this movie was worthwhile. It struck me as a movie where the stars agreed to do it to support a family member who was trying to get into movie production but had no experience and no skill.

This film tells the story of a family holiday going desperately wrong.

I guess people expect this to be a comedy, but it in fact is a drama that involves a lot of bickering and negativity. It's not a bad film, just not necessarily what people want to watch for escapism.