Downhill

Remakes or reboots have become a rather staple item in Hollywood and certainly the last two decades have proved that. Although "Downhill" is a remake of "Force Majeure", I frankly had no idea this was a remake until this film was released. It claims to be a comedy/drama, however after viewing it, it rings true of a drama with an underlying small element of comedy.

Barely escaping an avalanche during a family ski vacation in the alps, a married couple, Pete and Billie Stanton (Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) respectively, is thrown into disarray as they are forced to reevaluate their lives and how they feel about each other. 
It turns out that as the hotel they were staying in ignites controlled avalanches, however one got out of control a bit, and came down the mountain toward the outside deck of the restaurant they were at and engulfed Billie and their two kids, but Pete grabbed his phone and ran inside. Everyone being OK, Billie was incensed that Pete ran off while she was left to protect the kids. Whether or not there is an underlying reason of the tenseness between these two and this incident was merely the straw that broke the camel's back, the steel coldness is chilling and unpredictable. 

Others to round out the cast are Miranda Otto as Charlotte, Zoe Chao as Rose, Zach Woods as Zach, co-worker of Pete's, Julian Grey as Finn Stanton, Pete and Billie's son, Kristofer Hivju as ski patrol official, Giulio Berruti as Guglielmo, a ski instructor and Ammon Jacob Ford as Emerson Stanton, Pete and Billie's other son. 

This was effectively directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash ("The Way Way Back" '13, "Fatrick" (TV movie) '14) plus TV. Considering their abundance of TV work, these filmmakers gave this film a biting, intense feel to it where the audience ended up walking on eggs as these two actors in this. One could feel their pain in expressly different delineated ways. And considering Ferrell has performed in limited dramas and Dreyfus has has virtually no dramatic experience, these two were able to pull this off, and this is talented direction. If you like these director's quirky style, their "The Heart" is in pre-production. It was adequately written by Jesse Armstrong, Faxon and Rash. Certainly Armstrong has the lion's share of the experience here, however with all the collaboration of talent, this film dragged greatly, even though it having an 86 minute running time. It took much too long to ignite, especially for having a relatively short running time, and when it finally found the film, it had some very interesting turns, but it protruded to a fairly flat position. The best thing about this was the quirkiness, and the acting by Ferrell and Dreyfus. The fact that these are basically two comedians in a basically dramatic film was different and refreshing. Because of their backgrounds, the audience was waiting for the 'punchlines' in many scenes, but they really didn't happen. There were some dry, humorous moments, but, by and large, this was a drama. 

If you're a fan of these two stars, you'll like this. However if you like these two in only comedies, you'll be waiting for that elusive punchline and never really get it. This audience must be open to something new that is definitely out of the box, otherwise you will be disappointed. 

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                          Rated: R                                              86mins.