Downhill
Downhill
Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Will Ferrell, Miranda Otto, Zach Woods
Directed by Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
While on a Swiss ski vacation to get over the death of his father eight months ago, Pete Staunton (Will Ferrell), his wife Billie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and their two young sons embark on what they think will be a fun-filled week on the beautiful Alps slopes and some decent family time, but even at the start you sense there's something not quite right with the married couple. It only escalates during a lunch on an outside patio when a controlled avalanche occurs, and the snow barrels toward the patio. In the midst of the chaos, Pete grabs his phone and runs, leaving Billie and his sons out in the cold to possibly be killed, but after it subsides he returns like nothing happened.
Billie is quietly indignant of the events, and slowly begins to expose her animosity to Pete for what he did until it all blows up at an impromptu dinner date with Pete's work friend Zach (Zach Woods) and his girlfriend Rosie (Zoe Chao). As the couple deals with the aftermath of the event, tensions continue to rise that threatens to break up the family for good.
"Downhill" is the American version of the Swedish film "Force Majeure," which received a Golden Globe nomination in 2014 for Best Foreign Film. I've never seen it, but just by watching the trailer I think it's far superior to the one I actually did see, and there's many reasons why this film in particular doesn't work on any level.
First is the casting. The film has some comedic moments, but they don't really come from the leads, but rather the caricature actors that surround them, especially Miranda Otto's sex-crazed Charlotte who believes in the power of the body. She was the only reason I found myself laughing at all, and in a film that top bills Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, that's saying something. The movie itself isn't a comedy, but rather a dark, bleak, depressing look at a wealthy white upper class family and the wealthy, white, upper class struggles they go through that no one below the 1% could ever understand. The average moviegoer would see their names and think that they'll be in for a laugh riot, but instead they might just end up rioting.
Second is the story. There's no upside to anything that happens in the film, and while I'm all for bleak outcomes, this one left me uncomfortable in several situations not because of the story, but the cringe-worthiness of what was happening. Unlike films like "Marriage Story," there's no redeeming qualities between Billie or Pete at all, and both are equally deplorable and despicable in their own right - and don't get me started on their children...ok, I'll deal with them later. Still, there's hardly any decent moment to be had in the scant 86 minute runtime, but it felt more like watching an epic. I just eagerly waited for it to end, fought against my inner nature to get up and walk out, because I haven't done that yet in any movie - but I really wanted to here.
Finally there's the characters. There is not one single person in the film I was remotely drawn to in any way whatsoever. I'd wish the avalanche did kill them all and the film ends in twenty minutes, I'd count my money worth it (not that I actually paid for it, I have the Regal Unlimited plan, God bless it). To be honest I haven't been a Will Ferrell fan for awhile, as he seems to maintain the same type of character in each movie, using comedy that grew stale over a decade ago, but I appreciated it when he would step out and do more dramatic roles. Here, he's neither funny nor dramatic, but a stale middle and offers absolutely nothing to the story than playing Pete as a sniveling, cowardly, selfish man who abandons his family at the first sign of danger, and later tries to deny it using the most inauspicious reasoning I've ever heard.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Billie is no better. She's basically the Karen of the story, a woman you'd fully expect to find at the grocery store complaining to the manager that the advertised twenty-pack of grapes only had nineteen in them, and demand a full refund. She bullies her way through every situation, and offers the most cringe-worthy moments when she's arguing about a helicopter ride Pete planned, and then the big blowout where she parades her children out to prove that she was right. Then there's the moments she spends alone afterwards, drawn to a ruggedly handsome ski instructor and proves her hypocrisy by not telling Pete about it at all, while she demands him to be fully honest with her in every situation.
Finally there's the kids, who are the most brattiest, self-indulgent, self-centered little beings I've seen in movies in a long time. They're whiny, they're continually disinterested, and if they were actual people, they'd be total failures in life. I guess that's to be expected with a cowardly father and snooty mother.
The only sort of saving grace the film has is its picturesque views, but even one of the characters in the film comments that it's like the background picture on your computer, so instead of wasting your time and feeling totally frustrated, just stare at your computer screen for an hour.
"Downhill" is a truly frustrating experience, a film that offers no redeeming qualities of its characters and leaves audiences feeling angered and annoyed with what they just saw - and wishing the avalanche would've killed them all.
The Score: D-
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