The new movie Downhill is an American remake of a European movie titled (in English-speaking countries) Force Majeure. I took the opportunity to look up the original, based loosely on a true incident, and discovered the original has a much, shall we say, harsher plot than the American one.
However, I’ve never seen the original. I did go out to see the new one starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. so here we are.
Longtime married couple Pete (Ferrell) and Billie (Louis-Dreyfus) are on an Austrian ski vacation with their two sons whose names I never really learned because, well, they aren’t really distinct or memorable characters. The resort in question isn’t really for kids, and that’s where the couple’s problems begin. Many of them are fairly mundane issues, like Pete’s inability to stop texting a younger friend and co-worker, but things go in a very drastic direction when an avalanche comes crashing down in the general direction of the porch where the family is having lunch. Pete makes a run for it, stopping only for his phone. Billie grabs her sons and holds them tight. The avalanche was deliberately triggered and was never a danger, but now comes the aftermath of Pete’s panicking dash for safety.
Now, Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus are both reliable comedic actors. The form of humor here seems to be very much of the “cringe comedy” that Louis-Dreyfus has made a career out of, and Ferrell sometimes stretches his comedic muscles in interesting ways. But somehow, nothing here seems to add up. The humor is rarely all that funny. Comedic scenes all seem to go on for far too long. And then, other small things Pete and Billie do just make things worse. Billie isn’t going to be forgiving Pete any time soon, and he keeps making things worse.
Really, I would have been fine skipping this one. Considering the movie only ran about 86 minutes, I should not have been checking the time and wondering how much longer I was going to be sitting there when I probably has stuff to do. The situations seem true to life, but I never felt the discomfort that such a movie should make me feel. Instead, I felt bored. That just isn’t a good sign.
Yeah, skip this one.
Grade: D
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