Downhill

Downhill is a British comedy film directed by James Rouse and written by Torben Betts about four old friends who reunite to walk the Coast to Coast Walk. It stars Richard Lumsden, Karl Theobald, Jeremy Swift and Ned Dennehy. It was produced by Benji Howell and is noted for its "innovative" release strategy. The film premiered at Zeffirellis, Ambleside, Cumbria. A restaurant and cinema complex in the heart of the English Lake District. Plot At his kitchen table, in front of his teenage son Luke (Rupert Simonian) and his hand-held camera, Gordon (Richard Lumsden) explains the mission – to walk Alfred Wainwright’s epic Coast-to-Coast Walk – starting at St Bees and finishing 192 miles on Robin Hood's Bay. As he discusses the gruelling hike he is about to attempt, his wife jests that it’s, "just an excuse for a massive piss up!" After consulting his maps, Gordon rounds up the mismatched troupe. A team consists of best friend Keith (Karl Theobald), who hopes this trail of discovery can help him alleviate his burdened mind, and old school friends Steve (Jeremy Swift), a physically under-prepared school teacher, and Julian (Ned Dennehy), the troublesome and troubled wild-card. As the journey unfolds and the alcohol flows, we discover not only why this incompatible bunch has not caught up for decades, but also about the trials and tribulations of entering the mid-life – whether it be money problems, hidden secrets, loss of identity, addiction or just general disillusionment.