Downhill
Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: February 14, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
25
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Film ThreatAlan NgFeb 10, 2020
I loved Downhill for precisely what it meant to be—a character-driven comedy working its way through a painful and real conflict. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattFeb 13, 2020
As an attempt to scale the craggy heights of a marriage in crisis, Downhill may be more bunny slope than black diamond — a force mineure, but still worth the trip. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 27, 2020
The story worked brilliantly before. In Downhill, it works…well enough. The new movie is a teasing trifle with something real on its mind. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 27, 2020
It can’t quite match the power of Östlund’s film, or its bemused, clinical (dare I say Scandinavian?) sensibility, but it has an awkward, American charm all its own. Read full review
70
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJan 27, 2020
While the material they’re working with may not be great, it is fun to see Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell go head-to-head. Maybe they can try doing that again sometime in the future. With a better script. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisFeb 12, 2020
To its credit, Downhill strives to remain character-driven rather than devolve into a jokey take on a delicate premise. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJason BaileyJan 27, 2020
The value of Downhill comes from merging this story with these two distinct comic personas, and seeing what they do with it (and each other). That’s probably not enough of a reason for it to exist. But it’s not nothing, either. Read full review
67
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsJan 27, 2020
Downhill brings its characters to the brink of somewhere exciting but never commits to a full descent. Read full review
65
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJan 27, 2020
Downhill is a clever movie when it could have been profound, had, perhaps, Faxon and Rash been willing—or capable—of digging deeper. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldFeb 13, 2020
I enjoyed Downhill purely for Louis-Dreyfus’ performance; we don’t get to see the “Veep” star on the big screen very often, so why not revel in her talent when we get the chance? As an exhausted working mom unable to keep from micromanaging the vacation — and a wife suddenly questioning her choices — she’s funny and moving and utterly believable in every moment. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanFeb 12, 2020
It isn’t great. It’s a watered-down version of the original, but it’s still pretty good: neither wise nor profound, yet sometimes smart and with sharp elbows — especially if you have nothing with which to compare it. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshFeb 12, 2020
The themes that are unspoken, gestured at and repressed in “Force Majeure” are drawn out and made broad, obvious and slapstick in Downhill, which spoon-feeds the lessons of the dark-ish comedy and cuts short the plot for the easiest-to-digest ending. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 12, 2020
If you want to see “Force Majeure,” rent it and stream it. If you want to see two terrific comic talents circling around it in something lighter and funnier, then Downhill it is. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentFeb 24, 2020
Like a lot of remakes, Downhill doesn’t quite make the argument for its existence. But career-topping performances from Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus and an unusually frosty comedic tone make this a mostly rewarding day on the slopes. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 19, 2020
It all adds up to a decent movie — one that, for those in the know, stands in the shadow of a better one. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jan 29, 2020
If there’s a real draw to this bastardized variation, it’s Louis-Dreyfus. Read full review
58
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonJan 27, 2020
In turning Force Majeure from a sophisticated tale of broken masculinity into a thunderingly-obvious marital drama, Downhill unfortunately lives up to its title. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandJan 27, 2020
It’s hard to ever shake the sense that everyone would be much better off just queuing up Östlund’s film and moving on. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 27, 2020
Anyone who sees this new movie without having watched the original will certainly enjoy the lead performances, but they’ll be getting the frozen-watered-down version of the story. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedFeb 14, 2020
In Downhill, it disintegrates because both parties turn out to be such unsalvageable bores — a misfire, in a feature-length movie, that is worse than stale popcorn. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Lara ZarumFeb 14, 2020
It’s plagued from start to finish by wavering intentions that result in an unfocused, unfunny film. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiFeb 13, 2020
On the whole, the pairing of these two comedy titans is forgettable and slow as an ice age. To put it in skiing parlance: Downhill is pizza-ing when it needs to french-fry. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 12, 2020
Downhill is not a funny movie and wasn’t intended to be. It has moments of humor, but of the more uncomfortable variety, not the kind that provoke laughter, but cringing. Read full review
50
Screen RantSandy SchaeferFeb 12, 2020
Far from being a full-blown disaster, Downhill is a middle of the road comedy-drama that would've benefitted from a more incisive technique and a little extra faith in its audience's ability to grasp the subtleties of its story. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 12, 2020
Despite the invaluable comedic/dramatic gifts of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, who do their best to inject some life and energy into the proceedings, Downhill is a pale, tame, broad and soft-edged remake of the far superior 2014 Swedish film “Force Majeure.” Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonFeb 12, 2020
Downhill never makes much of an impact as it moves from one mildly amusing cringe-comedy set piece to the next. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comNick AllenJan 31, 2020
Every movie, even a remake, deserves to be viewed on its own merits. But that’s easier stated than done when you have a film like Downhill, a largely inferior American knockoff that's far less dynamic than the 2014 dark comedy it's based on. Read full review
45
The AtlanticDavid SimsFeb 13, 2020
All in all, the weaknesses and strengths of this remake boil down to the unavoidable fact that Force Majeure, a film I’ve seen multiple times and consider one of the best of its decade, isn’t a work that can be improved upon. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansMar 31, 2020
The performances, especially the brittle Louis-Dreyfus, are admirably grounded, but the script’s comedy wastes time with lazy barbs about European brusqueness and American exceptionalism abroad. Read full review
40
TimeStephanie ZacharekFeb 14, 2020
In Downhill, everything is played for blunt laughs. Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus — both gifted performers who have done much better work elsewhere — muddle through, recognizing that they’re making a movie about Trust with a capital T, but failing to get at any real darkness that might lurk beneath the movie’s shiny, slippery surface. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryFeb 14, 2020
The bottom line is a plot intended to make one consider life's big issues merely reminds us it's too short to sit through movies as muddled as this. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 13, 2020
There are some jokey parts, some weepy bits, a sexy moment and a few fine displays of anger from Louis-Dreyfus, but they’re all just thrown together like salted nuts and cheap candies in a snack mix. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranFeb 13, 2020
Downhill is a misfire, unable to show either of its stars to their best advantage. Neither the actors nor the film can decide how to balance humor with drama and that is the heart of the problem. Read full review
40
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 12, 2020
Downhill is sure as hell not the farce it’s been advertised to look like in the trailer. And you’ll search in vain for "Force Majeure’s" grounding in existential crisis. I don’t know what the Swedes would call Downhill. What’s Swedish for an unholy mess? Read full review
40
Time OutZachary ShevichJan 29, 2020
When Downhill works, it’s because the dynamic between Louis-Dreyfus and Ferrell feels recognisably fraught. More often than not, though, this remake gets stuck in the snow. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 27, 2020
It’s a commercially marketable prospect, sure, thanks to a committed performance from Julia-Louis Dreyfus (who also produces), but Downhill has also groomed out the subtlety from the original Swedish-language source material in some wincing stabs at cross-cultural comedy. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 27, 2020
This is not only one of those cases in which a U.S. makeover adds nothing to a memorable foreign-language film, it's the doubly dispiriting variation in which the more commercially minded overhaul relentlessly drains everything that was distinctive, edgy and original about the source. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 27, 2020
There’s a lived-in chemistry that’s missing from the pairing and the film’s great many awkward moments between them don’t feel quite as cutting or as uncomfortable as they should. It’s a dark comedy that feels too light. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyFeb 12, 2020
When the best thing about a movie is the title, that’s never a good sign. It’s all downhill from there? Exactly, and that’s the case with Downhill. Read full review
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