Review of Demolition (2016) by Patrick L — 27 Jul 2016

"Despite Jake Gyllenhaal's hard-working performance, the movie itself is obnoxious and self-indulgent".

Movie Review: Demolition.

Date Viewed: April 11 2016.

Directed By Jean-Marc Vallee (C.R.A.Z.Y., The Young Victoria, Dallas Buyers Club and Wild).

Written By Bryan Sipe.

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper, Judah Lewis, Polly Draper, C.J. Wilson, Malachy Cleary, Debra Monk and Heather Lind.

Jake Gyllenhaal gives another fine performance in "Demolition" but it isn't strong enough to carry this strange drama from director Jean-Marc Vallee. He first made it to the American scene with "Dallas Buyers Club" which earned Oscars for Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto and "Wild" which earned Oscar noms for Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. Both of those movies were emotionally terrific and well-acted, "Demolition" features a lot of brooding sappy characters. This film is a major disappointment from Vallee and it was written by the same man who penned the unbearable Nicholas Sparks adaptation "The Choice". Despite Jake Gyllenhaal's hard-working performance, the movie itself is obnoxious and self-indulgent.

Gyllenhaal stars as Davis Mitchell, a successful investment banker who is struggling to cope with the loss of his wife, Julia (Heather Lind) who died in a car crash. Instead of finding another woman, Davis files a complaint letter to a vending machine company for not receiving his bag of candy. What starts as a complaint turns into an unlikely friendship between Davis and a customer service rep named Karen (Naomi Watts). She tunes in to Davis' story and the two eventually meet up in person.

Karen has personal struggles of her own as well, her 15-year-son, Chris (Judah Lewis) has an anti-social relationship with her but his behavior changes when he forms a friendship with Davis. Soon, Davis begins to rebuild his life by demolishing the life he once knew. Davis' father-in-law and fellow employer, Phil (Chris Cooper) becomes increasing concerned with Davis and his unusual behavior and tells him to pull it together and get back on track.

Not having Gyllenhaal and Watts in a mutual relationship is refreshing but that doesn't excuse "Demolition" for having several plot devices such as the friendship between Davis and Chris. I love my native director Jean-Marc Vallee very much but this movie needed several rewrites. Jake Gyllenhaal is always ready to play a character who has a lot of depth and charisma, whether playing Robert Graysmith in "Zodiac", Donnie Darko in "Donnie Darko", Detective Loki in "Prisoners", Officer Taylor in "End of Watch", Jack Twist in "Brokeback Mountain", Billy Hope in "Southpaw" or Lou Bloom in "Nightcrawler", Gyllenhaal has the capacity to play different kinds of characters because he's one of our very best actors working today.

It's actually fun to destroy your old life and rebuild a new one but "Demolition" is a big letdown for both Gyllenhaal and director Vallee.