Film Review: DOWNHILL (2020): An Unexpected Dark Comedy From Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Downhill Review

Downhill (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, and starring Will Ferrell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Miranda Otto, Zach Woods, Kristofer Hivju, Zoe Chao, Jono Bergmann, Kimberly Rydell, Nadiv Molcho, Matt Lindquist, Ammon Jacob Ford, Julian Grey, and Giulio Berruti.

This comedic drama is a remake of Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s 2014 Force Majeure. The film puts together an unexpected duo of Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, two comedic icons, so you’d expect the film to be funny, especially with the trailer leading the audience to that assumption. However, the film is about 85% drama and 15% comedy. The film follows a family during a ski vacation who barely escapes an avalanche and when the husband’s true colors come out when he saves himself over his family’s, the married couple is thrown into disarray as they are forced to reevaluate their lives and the way they view one another.

The film opens up with meteor like objects hitting the snowy mountains in Austria, letting the audience know that danger is ahead. It cuts to the family of four in which the film circles around who seem out of sync and are trying to take a family photo together but all are talking over one another. As they check in to the ski resort, we learn that there are no other kids but their own there, and that the wife, Billie, has to constantly remind her husband, Pete, to stay off his phone and be present. We then learn that Pete is currently grieving due to his father passing months prior which is why the family took the trip. We see a small montage of the family together, including a scene where the couple shares a sink and mirror as they brush their teeth, even though there’s two provided by the resort. It then cuts to the family out eating and planning their day when suddenly what seems to be an avalanche is headed their way. We see Pete run for his life as the snow hits, but it isn’t until it’s over when he comes back to check on his family, who thankfully is in one piece, Billie holding her two sons. In shock, the pair go about their day and both seem to not know what to say and are on edge a bit as awkward tension builds.

Guilt in Pete’s eyes but no verbal acknowledgement of the incident seems to start to create a wedge in between them to the point where Billie won’t even hold his hand anymore. They’re not entirely given the chance to have a conversation about it due to several interruptions and even when they try to talk about it, Pete tries to find some sort of escape out of the topic. They even go to file a complaint on the avalanche due to how poorly it was handled, but the resort’s management claims that it was a controlled avalanche and presses that no one was hurt. With no solution from resort management, the wedge between the couple starts to get bigger. They start to argue about the little things and Pete continues to avoid the being alone with his wife. He even invites a coworker, Zach and his girlfriend, Rosie, who is traveling as well to dinner, which takes a turn he wasn’t ready for.

The avalanche incident comes up again, where Pete downplays as if it wasn’t a big deal but then Billie gets emotional as she breaks it down as if she was reliving the event all over again. This is where we see how the incident truly effected her as she breaks down in tears and tells how it felt from her perspective, revealing that Pete had grabbed his phone and ran off, while she put her arms around her children in protection and prepared herself to die with them. However, Pete immediately goes into defense mode and tries to say that he went to look for help, trying to make himself look better in front of his coworker, but it doesn’t work when Billie brings the kids out to confirm her version of the incident. Instead of complying, Pete starts an argument about how his wife always has to be right, completely missing the point of the situation. We then cut to Billie sleeping with the kids that night then telling Pete that he needs to spend the day with the kids so she can have a solo day.

Billie goes to explore the ski resort on her own and runs into a woman who she met upon her arrival and they have a conversation about happiness and relationships. Seeing that Billie is unconvincing and uncomfortable when she talks about her own relationship, the woman gets her an attractive ski instructor. While Billie is finally enjoying herself while skiing, leaving her troubles behind her, we cut back and forth between her skiing and her family at the family resort about 20 minutes away on a slide. Pete ends up getting them kicked off of the slide because he tries to hurry one of his kids for going too slow and then we cut to them sitting and talking about their next activity. The kids reveal that their father seems like he doesn’t want to be there which is why they’re not excited and just want to head back to the hotel room.

Billie and her instructor end up having a conversation about relaxing to the point where they even end up making out but she stops it before it can get too far and excuses herself to get back to her family. When the family is finally in one place, Pete’s family are found in bed together watching a movie, feeling isolated a bit, Pete goes to hang out with Zach. Billie ends up taking the kids to ski and runs into Rosie, which ignites a one on one conversation about what she would have done if put in the same situation, revealing that she would have left due to how selfish and screwed up it was. Pete and Zach go out drinking, which then leads us to a drunk Pete revealing his thoughts about getting older and feeling as if he loses more of himself everyday.  We then see the family at an awkward and tense dinner, but on the walk back to the hotel room, Pete finally confronts the situation and admits that Billie was right. He shares that he hates the way he’s looked at now by his family, but unfortunately its too little too late and Billie tells him that he should have admitted it from the beginning instead of making her feel as if she was crazy or unreasonable. She ends the conversation with “I just want you to want to survive one with us, Pete.” This truly showing what’s truly important to each.

Nearing the end of their trip, the family go out on one last ski activity, where as they stand on a mountain, a loud noise occurs and the boys clutch their mother in fear. Pete standing alone, seeing that his kids don’t want protection from him. Pete and Billie exchange a look, showing that they both see how different it is now. They end up deciding to head back, but Pete allows Billie to ski down the mountain while he takes the boys down via ski lift. When Billie takes forever to come down the mountain, Pete hears her screaming for him so he runs to get her, leaving the boys behind. When he gets to her though, we learn that she’s okay but she tells him that this is for the boys, wanting to help him in fixing the way their kids view him. She is letting him “rescue her”  in their eyes, however, she gives him an ultimatum about the way she views him. She gives him my favorite line of the film when she tells him “if you don’t like the way I look at you, show me something different,” and tells him that he needs to change and to show that he wants to be around them and present. He promises and then carries her back to where the kids are, the film ending as they leave the resort.

I haven’t seen the original, but based on what I have read, it’s apparently much better than this American remake. However, I have no desire to watch it, due to this film not really doing much for me. I felt misled by the trailer and the actors who starred in it, assuming it was going to be much funnier than it was. It felt more like a drama and not really a comedy at all. Sure, there were little comedic moments here and there, but not enough to have it filed under the genre. The concept of the film was interesting and Julia did an amazing job in this role, but I felt like it could have been done way better. It was an okay film, but my expectations were completely let down.

Rating: 6/10

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