It was a film with so much promise on paper. It featured two comedic superstars and was set on a ski hill. I wanted it, and still want it, to be great.

In fact, I was hoping to hold off on reading any reviews before I could see it myself. I failed in that and now cannot stop seeing film reviewers roast this movie in dramatic fashion.

I have not seen the film (I was skiing this weekend instead) and cannot vouch for if it’s funny or good or not.

These professional film reviewers however, each found unique and creative ways to use the film’s title as a way to lambaste it.

Here are what the experts had to say:

‘Downhill’ Review: A Small Disaster in the Snow – New York Times

“Downhill” is a vacation-gone-wrong comedy that lives up to its ill-advised title. 

The New York Times/A.O. Scott

Review: Will Ferrell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ ‘Downhill’ heads in the wrong direction from start – USA Today

Movie Review: Downhill is a frigid, unfunny remake – LA Weekly

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell’s ‘Downhill’ Is Worse Than Stale Popcorn – The Observer

Downhill is a perfect example of a bad film that doesn’t have a clue about what kind of movie it wants to be.  An unnecessary (and hugely inferior) version of acclaimed Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s 2014 film Force Majeure, about a family (husband, wife, two sons) in the French Alps whose ski vacation is interrupted by an avalanche that irrevocably challenges and changes the marriage of the husband and wife, it tries to follow the original outline, but this time the family is American, and the parents are pathetically portrayed by Will Ferrell and Julia-Louis Dreyfus, both of whom inject flat humor where genuine pathos used to be. By the time Downhill screeches to a halt after a mercifully short 86 minutes, it adds up to nothing of any significance with the original impact missing.

The Observer/Rex Reed

Downhill Is an Uphill Slog That Doesn’t Justify Its Remake of the Darker, Subtler Force Majeure – Time

It’s too easy to say of a remake, “The original was better.” But some remakes make you wonder why they exist at all, and Downhill is one of them. Getting through it is an uphill slog.

Time/Stephanie Zacharek

In ‘Downhill,’ Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus hit the slopes and the skids – CNN

“Downhill” is an unfortunate title for a film that starts out with an intriguing cast pairing (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Will Ferrell) and premise, before going you know where. 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.

CNN/Brian Lowry