Downhill (Review)
Downhill is About as Fun as Being Trapped in an Avalanche.
Hollywood has a habit of remaking foreign films so that audiences can enjoy them in good old fashioned “America speak.” The latest film to do so is Downhill based on the Swedish film Force Majeure. Oddly enough, the title is fitting since the movie consistently keeps going downhill from start to finish. Despite two hilarious leads and a competent film team backing them, Downhill is light on humor and high on cringe. I was hoping that this might be a deliciously dark comedy just in time for Valentine’s day. You know, something to take my mind off being painfully single. It ended up making me glad I was single since I didn’t have to apologize to anyone for dragging them along with me to see it.
Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus star as Pete and Billie, a middle-aged couple taking their family on a fancy ski trip to Austria. Things get off to a rocky start as it’s revealed that Pete had been grieving the loss of his father for 8 months and it’s getting on his wife’s nerves (apparently that’s too long to miss your dead parents). However, things get bad when the family thinks they’re about to die in when a controlled avalanche occurs. As Billie clutches her children, all of them prepared to die, Pete runs for safety. Of course, no one is hurt, but there’s no coming back from that moment (especially because Billie won’t let it go). Soon a huge rift forms between them as they are forced to re-examine not only how they see each other, but themselves.
Here’s the thing about Downhill, there isn’t a single likable character in the lot of them. I suppose this is an attempt by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon (who co-directed and wrote the film with Jesse Armstrong) to make sure that no one seemed like “the villain.” However, it just ends up making both Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell both insufferable. Billie is a pugnacious attorney with a suffocating need to constantly be in control and right. Peter is a bull in a china shop who refuses to listen or consider anyone else’s needs or feelings outside of himself. Together they’re a middle-aged trash fire that should just get divorced and, honestly, I would have liked Downhill even more if it was a straight up break-up movie. The annoyances don’t stop there though as they’re joined by another couple consisting of a limp noodle of a pushover (Zach Woods) and a pretentious “free spirit” (Zoe Chao). Oh yeah, Billie and Pete have kids too, but I can’t actually remember anything other than I hated them too. Needless to say, Downhill is a pretty unpleasant experience.
It’s hard to tell if Downhill was intended to be a comedy or not. There are definitely moments where I think were supposed to be funny, such as Miranda Otto’s character’s forceful openness when it comes to sexuality. Spouting such lines as, “I can catch a dick whenever I want.” Most of the moments that are supposed to be funny come off as uncomfortable and even cruel at times (a type of humor that is just not up my alley these days). Downhill continues to escalate these moments with no end in sight as Billie and Pete clash over and over. The low point comes though when Billie drags there children in the fight just to prove that she is right. I’m sure anyone without empathy will find Downhill hilarious. I found it to be a contemptible commentary on the tribulations of marriage. Whether that’s what the filmmakers were going for or not, I have no idea. Then again, I don’t think that they knew what they were really going for with Downhill either.
If I have to come up with something nice to say about this film, I would say that the best part of Downhill is the setting. The mountains in the film are absolutely breathtaking, and there are some beautiful time-lapse footage of sunrises. Even the room that the family shares is impressive, especially the bathroom with is meant to be a ham-fisted metaphor for the rift between the couple. I found myself actually enjoying the film when it featured the characters not bickering and ski through fresh powder. Unfortunately, Downhill can’t go too long without someone opening their mouths. Still, I was able to find a happy place watching the scenery go by while the character’s yapped away at each other.
Downhill is a downer flick, but not in a good way. I felt a strange sense of loathing and sympathy for the characters as they were all forced to deal with each other. It’s just a miserable film and with everything going on in the world today, I’m sick of misery. I definitely love me some dark comedies, but Downhill isn’t even that dark. It’s just a film about two people that need to bite the bullet and get divorced. We all know that couple that makes everyone around them uncomfortable with their constant fighting and just need to break up already. Use the $15 you would spend on a ticket to go out to dinner with them instead. It will be just as much fun.
