{"id":8269,"date":"2020-02-22T08:38:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T13:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=8269"},"modified":"2020-02-22T08:38:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T13:38:42","slug":"review-downhill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=8269","title":{"rendered":"Review: DOWNHILL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Uninspired English language remake of Swedish hit<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One subtle, masterful scene made 2014\u2019s \u201cForce Majeure\u201d remarkable. But once you\u2019ve seen it and understand the central conflict, it loses its impact. That\u2019s probably why this English-language remake of the Swedish hit film was doomed from the start.

In \u201cDownhill,\u201d Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell play a middle-aged couple who take their two sons on a ski vacation in the Alps. From the beginning, something is missing between them. Pete (Ferrell) is glued to his smartphone, texting with a work colleague, who luckily enough, is also vacationing nearby with his young girlfriend. Pete\u2019s takes a keen interest in the younger couple\u2019s social media posts and their no plans, and no rules hashtags.

Billie (Louis-Dreyfus) is all-mom, planning, and carefully managing the daily schedule. Her intensity is off-putting, but Pete dutifully goes along. And even though he\u2019s going through the motions of Dad, Pete\u2019s checked out on a deeper level.

Adjusting to their resort presents problems. They\u2019ve mistakenly checked into an adults-only hotel. Things get even more uncomfortable when a sexy hotel hostess named Charlotte (Miranda Otto) suggests that they should let their hair down and go naked in the saunas. Charlotte\u2019s inappropriateness makes Billie uncomfortable but intrigues Pete. Or are they both a little interested in taking a walk on the wild side?

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus take a bad family vacation.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After spending some time on the slopes, the family settles in, but then something unexpected happens. To the experienced film buff, what happens is expected. And the happening is played out almost shot-for-shot with its 2014 predecessor. The moment is still masterful, but instead of being surprised and interested in what happens next to this conflicted couple, I found myself wandering.

Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell make a solid, credible couple. They reveal that their boys were late additions to their family, which explains their age. And Louis-Dreyfus breaks out of her zany \u201cVeep\u201d mode to adopt a less self-centered personality. As a mom, she\u2019s determined to be a good example. However, this makes her a stick in the mud.

On the other hand, despite playing Pete in a low key, Ferrell, once again, is a clueless, lovable lug. In one scene, I thought the bar he was partying in was going to break out in a \u201cFrank the Tank\u201d chant from the actor\u2019s \u201cOld School\u201d days. Thankfully, Ferrell doesn\u2019t go streaking in this film. But maybe if he had, \u201cDownhill\u201d would have been more fun.

There is a restrained quality to the entire production that weighs it down. Perhaps, the problems these two couples experience are too reminiscent of a bad family vacation–not a darkly funny vacation, just a bad one.

There\u2019s a reason why I\u2019ve not encouraged my wife to sit down with me and watch Netflix\u2019s Oscar-nominated \u201cMarriage Story.\u201d Of course, I watched the movie surrounded by fellow critics in a darkened movie theater. It\u2019s not a film that I want to revisit, certainly not in the comforts of my living room. Having been divorced once, I can attest to that film\u2019s accuracy. And \u201cDownhill\u201d is very much in the same category, if also, not nearly as good. Watching Billie and Pete descend into angry chaos is painful, and any laughs are of the cynical variety. It\u2019s just not entertaining.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d star Kristofer Hivju has appeared in the Swedish and English language versions.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Besides Miranda Otto as an over-sexed hotel employee, highlights include \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d star Kristofer Hivju as a ski safety supervisor. Hivju was a big part of \u201cForce Majeure,\u201d but sadly, he\u2019s only got one scene in this remake. The movie needed more Hivju.

Like \u201cForce Majeure,\u201d \u201cDownhill\u201d is more drama than comedy. And by relying on that one revelatory moment, \u201cForce Majeure\u2019s\u201d slow and tedious narrative portions could be overlooked. But I don\u2019t remember it being as frustrating as \u201cDownhill.\u201d Maybe the problem is the unusual pairing of Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell, whose comedic sensibilities as actors differ substantially.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Joyless pairing of comedic acting duo fails to land darkly funny tone.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A \u201cSeinfeld\u201d veteran, whose HBO series \u201cVeep\u201d was addictive, marvelous viewing, Louis-Dreyfus is an actress that relies on fast-talking snark. By contrast, Ferrell often counts on his affable everyman qualities combined with ample helpings of bumbling physical comedy. \u201cDownhill\u201d throws both of these excellent comic performers’ essential abilities away, forcing them to both play straight-men. With no one to deliver the punchline, even the bitting one, any humor turns sour and jokes leaden.

Ultimately, \u201cDownhill\u2019s\u201d failure is in not seeing beyond the film that inspired it. There\u2019s just nothing that distinguishes this remake from the original to justify its existence.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan stuggles to find a purpose for this remake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[796,79,1097,1657],"class_list":["post-8269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-dark-comedy","tag-drama","tag-foreign-language","tag-remake","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8271,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269\/revisions\/8271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}