Downhill
DOWNHILL - SEARCHLIGHT PICTURESOne word to adequately sum up the experience of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's Downhill – a remake of Ruben Östlund's Force Majeure – would be flat.
Even with the first time pairing of comedic dynamic giants Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Downhill fails at every turn to sufficiently develop its themes to both an engaging or proficient standard. The main culprit being, what is quite frankly, a dire screenplay from the writer-director duo and co-writer, Jesse Armstrong, that refuses to gain any momentum with ridiculously slow and weak themes.
In such a weak screenplay, both Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus are dead on arrival with their respective characters failing at every turn to inject any form of comedic bravado or dramatic gravitas. Thus, with no form of actively engaging, the themes fail to grow or evolve in either a compelling or captivating manner. In fact, nothing present is remotely compelling with Downhill. Failing to muster any power in an array of themes through exploring ideas, such as gender politics, with no success.
The one shining light is the rather stunning cinematography from Danny Cohen. However, it is never distinguishable between the talents of Cohen or the majestic beauty of the setting that stands out. Nevertheless, Cohen crafts an often beautifully composed image on the screen, with expert lighting that captures Austria in its most sublime and seductive atmosphere.
That being said, one impressive singular attribute can not save how dreadful and uneventful Downhill is. Made more surprising is that there is a definite basis for a terrific black comedy to set the standards in Force Majeure. Downhill falls and fails at every hurdle, with each element it crafts with soft layers drowning any momentum.
DOWNHILL is released February 28th 2020
