Jake Gyllenhaal has delivered a recent string of impressive performances in “Prisoners” (2013), “Nightcrawler” (2014) and “Southpaw” (2015). “Demolition” is another great vehicle for him, but overall, the film is not as strong director Jean-Marc Vallee’s past two efforts. His 2013 drama “Dallas Buyers Club” earned Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto Oscars, and his 2014 hiking tale “Wild” sent Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern to the Academy Awards as nominees.
Vallee certainly doesn’t waste any time setting the stage and tone of “Demolition”. In the opening scene Davis (played by Gyllenhaal) is in the passenger seat next to his wife Julia when their car is involved in a serious crash. She’s pronounced dead a short time later at a nearby hospital. Davis, understandably in a bit of a fog, attempts to get a bag of M&Ms from a hospital vending machine, but the bag gets stuck. He immediately turns his attention to the vending machine company, writing the first in a series of letters explaining his frustration – in great detail.
But Davis also uses these letters to express his emotions over the loss of his wife, but in a strangely straightforward way (complete with monotone narration from Gyllenhaal). And outwardly, Davis doesn’t seem to be too upset about his wife no longer being in his life. This frustrates his father-in-law (played by Chris Cooper), who’s also his boss at a NYC investment firm. Davis’ true, off-beat colors begin to show, especially as he develops a unique relationship with the vending company’s customer service representative, Karen (Naomi Watts), who is moved by his letters.
The first two-thirds of “Demolition” are solid. I bought into this story and was genuinely curious to see where Davis was headed or if and when he would finally crack from the grief of the tragedy. Gyllenhaal is one of the rare actors who always keeps you interested because you never know where he’ll take his character. Here he has nice chemistry with Watts, and Cooper, as the devastated father, has some nice showcase scenes early on. Vallee’s filmmaking style is quite reminiscent of his previous films – and the techniques make sense within the structure of this script.
But in the last half-hour, once Davis begins to spend time with Karen’s 15-year-old son, “Demolition” becomes an overly dramatic soap opera. Vallee pours-it-on with at least three “twists”, taking the movie from quirky to conventional. His previous films had meaning and purpose behind them – with powerful and bittersweet endings. “Demolition” had potential, especially with Gyllenhaal as the lead, but, unfortunately, in the final act, it breaks apart in a big way.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Demolition” gets a C+.
Running Time: 101 min.