advertisement

Jake Gyllenhaal gives explosive performance in confusing 'Demolition'

At the beginning of Jean-Marc Vallée's drama "Demolition," Jake Gyllenhaal survives a car crash that kills his wife, then he spends the rest of the movie trying to avoid being murdered by metaphors.

As an oily, wealthy stockbroker unable to grieve for his wife's death, Gyllenhaal again demonstrates why he rules Hollywood as the go-to guy for fractured characters on the edge.

His widower, Davis Mitchell, early on alerts us to how disconnected he is to his feelings. In a restaurant, Mitchell's boss and distraught father-in-law Phil (Chris Cooper, an exposed electrical wire) attempts to guide him through this rough time.

All Mitchell can think about is why they have to pay $12 for a martini? Oh, the atmosphere!

Mitchell becomes obsessed with disassembling things - lights, refrigerators, clocks - so he can reassemble them, better. (Metaphor alert!)

Then, Brian Sipe's ambitious screenplay concocts the most unusual exposition/inner-monologue combo I've ever witnessed.

At the hospital the night his wife Julia (Heather Lind) dies, a vending machine malfunctions, depriving Mitchell of a bag of M&M's.

He writes out a longhand letter to the company's customer service department, and decides he must explain everything that's happened to him up to this point in his life. Then he continues to send more and more letters.

That's not the weird part.

The customer service rep calls Mitchell at 2 a.m. to express her condolences for his loss - both the M&M's and his wife.

She's Karen Moreno (Naomi Watts), in an unhappy relationship with the vending company owner. Touched by Mitchell's blunt honesty, she toys with the idea of meeting him, and eventually does in one of the most bizarre meet-cutes in the movies.

Mitchell and Moreno form a platonic, supportive relationship, one that allows him to help her with her rebellious, music-loving, effeminate teen son Chris (a charismatic talent named Judah Lewis), who suspects he might be gay.

Chris becomes enamored of Mitchell's blunt, unvarnished honesty. They do fun things together, such as Chris shooting a .45 bullet into Mitchell while wearing a bulletproof vest. ("It feels good!" he screeches, thankful to feel anything, even pain.)

They also use sledgehammers, saws and a bulldozer to destroy Mitchell's expensive, upper-scale house on a cathartic lark. (Apparently, the neighbors don't call the cops.)

Maybe Vallee - who directed Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto to Oscars with "Dallas Buyers Club" - meant "Demolition" to be a commentary on the ennui of the upper-middle classes, how its materialistic members possess so much that they value nothing, and how their struggle-free lives lead to spiritual numbness.

This might have been a more powerful story, and certainly a more relatable one, had Mitchell been a working class stiff who didn't have the privileged option to simply cease going to work.

Or destroying a home.

Lucky for Mitchell, the customer service department was just down the street, and not in India or the Philippines.

“Demolition”

★ ★

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper, Judah Lewis

Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallee

Other: A Fox Searchlight release. Rated R for drug use, language, sexual situations. 100 minutes

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.