Searchlight Pictures
Will Ferrell constantly makes me laugh. From Anchorman to Step Brothers, I have enjoyed his humor for years. I missed his newest film, Downhill, which is a remake of the dark Swedish comedy Force Majeure. With it hitting VOD, I thought it was the perfect time to check out the film despite all the terrible reviews. I should have listened to them and ignored this film.
The film’s screenplay is adapted by Jesse Armstrong, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash, who I all find to be funny behind and in front of the camera. The talent for this movie is stacked with Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing a married couple who are forced to reevaluate their lives after escaping an avalanche during a family ski vacation. So, with such great talent appearing on screen and the writing it, why was it so bad?
There are several reasons why Downhill is easily one of the worst films of the year so far but one of the main reasons is the writing for the characters. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell work with what is given to them and it isn’t much. Billie (Louis-Dreyfus) and Pete (Ferrell) are characters that are given no life, and argue with each other over everything. What sets their arguments in motion is Pete’s decision to save his cellphone rather than his family during the avalanche that hits their vacation spot. Billie questions his decisions and leads them down a path of reevaluating their marriage.
Searchlight Pictures
I usually wouldn’t mind a film like this where a couple has heated discussions and has some things to say about marriage but neither Louis-Dreyfus nor Ferrell seem interested in moving their characters forward. The couple argued over the littlest things and at a certain point it became frustrating because they weren’t willing to fix things. The scene that stood out the most to me and was easily the most frustrating scene in the film was when Peter was trying to get his family on board a helicopter as part of their vacation and Billie argued with him that their children didn’t have gloves to wear as part of the trip. The helicopter took off and they were left there. Scenes like this seemed to go on for quite some time and left me irritated.
The film is categorized as a comedy and a drama and it fails at both. With two actors who have appeared in countless comedies throughout the years, I fully expected this film to be one of the funniest films of the year. Neither Ferrell avoiding the issues or Louis-Dreyfus walking around frustrated was comedic or dramatic. The film’s lack of sharp and engaging dialogue from Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell made for their interactions to be dull. The film also starred Zach Woods (Gabe from The Office) and Zoe Chao as a couple who are friends of Pete’s and are thrown into the couple’s issues. They didn’t make a huge contribution to the film, but they were one aspect I didn’t mind.
With such comedic talent surrounding this film, I expected a lot more. I watched this film around 7 AM and I immediately wanted to go back to bed. Hollywood has been taking foreign films and remaking them with popular actors and they always fail so let’s just stop it and praise the original films instead.
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