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29th Dec 2019

WATCH: Downhill looks like it might just be Will Ferrell’s best movie in years

Rory Cashin

Plus he’s paired with the comedy genius that is Julia Louis-Dreyfus!

In 2014, there was a Swedish movie titled Force Majeure, which told the story of a family travelling in the French Alps, but when a controlled avalanche is set off, the father panics and abandons his family, all of whom are convinced at the time that they are going to die.

Showing off his inherent cowardice and selfishness, the rest of the movie is a gnaw-your-own-lips-off level of cringe, and remains one of the best foreign language comedies of the last decade.

Fast forward to 2020, and the US remake is arriving under the new title Downhill, with Will Ferrell in the lead role. While that might set off some alarm bells, the trailer does seem to show Ferrell acting with restraint, with more of the hysterics going to his on-screen wife Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.

The adaptation is co-written and co-directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon (The Descendants, Community, The Way Way Back), with additional writing provided by none other than Jesse Armstrong (the creator of Succession!).

Meanwhile, Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfuss will be joined on screen by Miranda Otto (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Zach Woods (The US Office), and Kristofer Hivju (Game Of Thrones).

Looking back over Ferrell’s recent cinematic CV, you’ve got Holmes & Watson (terrible), The House (meh), Zoolander 2 (terrible), Get Hard (really terrible), The Campaign (bad), Anchorman 2 (not as good as it should’ve been) and Casa de mi Padre (weird, and bad). Sure, he had The LEGO Movie, but he was hardly the central figure in that.

You have to go all the way back to 2010’s double-whammy of Megamind and The Other Guys before you get to Ferrell’s last genuinely good movies.

Here is hoping the new decade brings us some new greatness with him, as Downhill lands in Irish cinemas on Friday 28 February.

Clip via FoxSearchlight

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