Downhill

DOWNHILL By Doug Brunell | September 2, 2008 https://filmthreat.com/uncategorized/downhill/?fbclid=PAAaadnf-j5SNt- _YUeil8yFIBQyRaSKNBySLLFyBqIOz_HXbwLvVirS6wfXY

Nobody is ever going to call “Downhill” a classic or even a great film, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it is a worthy dark comedy with moments of pure genius. The problem is that it skirts that fine line between memorable and utter garbage so precariously that you can’t ever really be sure of which side it

has staked a claim. Considering that it was made for $1100 by film students helps place it into the memorable column.

The plot is not exactly something we’ve seen before, and much of the action that motivates it comes from left field, yet still fits. Jonah (Joe Gariffo) is a high school student who loves two things: boxcar racing and Dana (Jessica Kienzle). Dana is with another guy, but that doesn’t stop Jonah from making a bet (for $5.00) with his best friend that he will be dating the girl very soon. How does he plan on winning that bet and the girl’s heart? By murdering her boyfriend. As if that isn’t enough, Jonah decides to kill anyone who blocks his path to true love.

Gariffo, quite simply, is Jonah. He plays the character exactly right. Bordering between sympathetic and psychotic, you never know which side you are going to see. The guy can’t fight (as witnessed at the beginning of the film in a hilarious moment in a pool hall) and often screams like a girl when being attacked. His friends are few and far between, but girls seem to find him tolerable. He’s in love with a “slut” (who does nothing to dispel that label) while a perfectly suitable female is right in front of his face. In other words, he’s the kind of confused teenager we all were, but with a really sinister side that is quickly getting out of control.

The film’s strengths are crippled with problems, however. The plot is often too silly to actually work, but there are inspired segments so s...