Despite frigid reviews, a group of us enjoyed this dramedy about a damaged marriage further fracturing during an alpine ski trip. No doubt that most viewers expected a raucous comedy, given the star power of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell in the leads, and may have been disappointed that the laughs are awkward, cringey, and not always close together. Watching a couple unable to communicate can be difficult for some and impossible for others, but this pair does it beautifully and Jack, Nancy, Dennis, and I found a lot to like.
This is the third screenplay and second time directing for the team of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (both are also comedic actors but do not have cameos in this one). They apparently based the script on the Swedish movie Force Majeure (2014) which we didn't see. All the synopses I've read, as well as the filmmakers themselves in an interview, point to a particular inciting incident that breaks this couple. Jack and I think they are already in deep trouble in the very first scene.
The combination of the cinematography by Danny Cohen, the stunt skiing, and special effects make for glorious sequences on the slopes (shot in Austria), enhanced by Volker Bertelmann's score. I'm enjoying his soundtrack on Apple Music, featuring wonderful wordless vocals, as I write. It's also available on Spotify and more. I know there were plenty of songs as well, but I can't recall them at the moment.
Louis-Dreyfus was last blogged for Enough Said (before her multi-Emmy winning seasons in Veep), Ferrell for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Faxon and Rash for The Way Way Back, Cohen for Disobedience, and Bertelmann for The Current War.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is a chilly 39% and its audiences' are colder at 13. We disagree.
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