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Downhill
Superb performances by the stars make 2020's Downhill, a squirm-worthy and tension-filled drama about a family torn apart through an act of God, worth a look.
This film is based on a 2014 French/Norwegian film called Force Majuere and stars Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfuss as Pete and Billie, a couple vacationing with their two sons in the French Alps. The family is seated at an outdoor cafe when an avalanche hits the place. The family escapes unharmed, but deeper problems find their way to the surface because, as the avalanche comes to an end, Pete is walking back to the table where his family was sitting, making it appear to Billie and his sons that Pete left his family to die.
This film starts out very promisingly, it providing more and more discomfort for the viewer as the film progresses, but then makes a couple of bad detours. We understand when Pete tries to minimize what happened and Billie isn't able to do the same, especially after a very intense confrontation with Austrian authorities that implies the act of God might not have been as natural as it seemed. We can no longer sympathize with Pete when Billie makes her sons admit to Pete (in front of other people yet), that they also felt Pete was leaving them to die.
The story gets tricky for the viewer here, because we want to go back to the scene where the avalanche hit and figure out exactly why Pete was away from his family when the avalanche hit. It's horrible when we think what Billie says is true, yet we understand why Pete can't be honest about it. We understand the gulf that begins to grow between the couple, but we don't get is Billie coming thisclose to having sex with a handsome ski instructor and Pete getting drunk at a club, hitting on everything in a skirt. This is where the story loses this reviewer. This is something this couple needed to deal with directly and this separation Pete and Billie spits in the face of the contrived climax that made no sense after everything else we've witnessed.
What did work here were two surprisingly solid performances by Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfuss, actors definitely working out of their comfort zones, that rivet the viewer to the screen, despite the fact that this is the last kind of movie we expected from these two. The swiss scenery is gorgeous and if for nothing else, co-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash are to be applauded for the dramatic performances they pull from Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfuss, which definitely raise the bar on this one.
Superb performances by the stars make 2020's Downhill, a squirm-worthy and tension-filled drama about a family torn apart through an act of God, worth a look.
This film is based on a 2014 French/Norwegian film called Force Majuere and stars Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfuss as Pete and Billie, a couple vacationing with their two sons in the French Alps. The family is seated at an outdoor cafe when an avalanche hits the place. The family escapes unharmed, but deeper problems find their way to the surface because, as the avalanche comes to an end, Pete is walking back to the table where his family was sitting, making it appear to Billie and his sons that Pete left his family to die.
This film starts out very promisingly, it providing more and more discomfort for the viewer as the film progresses, but then makes a couple of bad detours. We understand when Pete tries to minimize what happened and Billie isn't able to do the same, especially after a very intense confrontation with Austrian authorities that implies the act of God might not have been as natural as it seemed. We can no longer sympathize with Pete when Billie makes her sons admit to Pete (in front of other people yet), that they also felt Pete was leaving them to die.
The story gets tricky for the viewer here, because we want to go back to the scene where the avalanche hit and figure out exactly why Pete was away from his family when the avalanche hit. It's horrible when we think what Billie says is true, yet we understand why Pete can't be honest about it. We understand the gulf that begins to grow between the couple, but we don't get is Billie coming thisclose to having sex with a handsome ski instructor and Pete getting drunk at a club, hitting on everything in a skirt. This is where the story loses this reviewer. This is something this couple needed to deal with directly and this separation Pete and Billie spits in the face of the contrived climax that made no sense after everything else we've witnessed.
What did work here were two surprisingly solid performances by Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfuss, actors definitely working out of their comfort zones, that rivet the viewer to the screen, despite the fact that this is the last kind of movie we expected from these two. The swiss scenery is gorgeous and if for nothing else, co-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash are to be applauded for the dramatic performances they pull from Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfuss, which definitely raise the bar on this one.