‘Downhill’ is a good remake, but not superior
Bill Goodykoontz
It’s almost a cliché to complain that American remakes of foreign films are inferior.
Like most clichés, it’s also true. Certainly it is in the case of “Downhill,” a remake of the terrific 2014 “Force Majeure.”
Not that this matters, of course, if you haven’t seen the original. If you’re going in cold, “Downhill” will be a pleasant-enough comedy-drama starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, co-written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, Oscar winners for writing “The Descendants.” In fact, if you haven’t seen “Force Majeure,” don’t, until after you’ve seen this. You’ll like it a lot more that way.
Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell play Billie and Pete, a couple vacationing in Austria with their sons. They’re staying at a ski resort where things are going well enough on the surface. Pete’s still mourning the recent death
of his father, and he can’t quit his cellphone, constantly in contact with work and a co-worker friend, to Billie’s dismay. But for the most part everyone seems to be having a good time.
Then one day during lunch a potential crisis rears its head. Billie and Pete’s reaction to it is markedly different — and the impetus for an immediate and intense reevaluation of their relationship, especially on Billie’s part.
No big deal, Pete figures. Nothing to see here, moving on.
Life-altering event, Billie believes. Obviously with such different reactions,
Rated R; language, sexual content
1 hour, 26 minutes there is plenty of tension, and Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell, along with help from Faxon and Rash, really sell the uncomfortableness of a couple at odds.
This isn’t really a surprise. Louis-Dreyfus was really good in “Enough Said,” Nicole Holofcener’s 2013 drama. And Ferrell was terrific in “Everything Must Go,” a 2010 film based on a
Raymond Carver short story.
Louis-Dreyfus is particularly impressive in a 10-minute-plus scene in which Billie finally has Pete cornered — albeit in front of his annoying friend and his new girlfriend — and unloads on him, unleashing all of her pent-up frustration and fury. It is remarkable, a real showcase of intensity, and the only time “Downhill” approaches the dramatic heights of “Force Majeure.”
That’s largely because Faxon and Rash, along with fellow screenwriter Jesse Armstrong (“Succession”) have opted to broaden the comedy in “Downhill.” Maybe they figured with Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell, it would have been a waste not to. But the result is a film that struggles to maintain any consistency of tone.
That’s especially pronounced whenever
Charlotte, a free-spirited tour guide of sorts appears on-screen. Which is a shame, because she’s played by Miranda Otto, so great in “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” among other things. But here she’s a parody of a character, immediately taking you out of whatever reality Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell have worked to build.
Then again, they drift in and out of broad comedy, too, especially him. Make no mistake, they’re good at it. And the original had humor, too. But it didn’t break the momentum the seething-under-the-surface tension so successfully builds.
It all adds up to a decent movie — one that, for those in the know, stands in the shadow of a better one.