Demolition (Jean-Marc Vallee, 2015)

6.5/10
I can't really make heads or tails of what this movie was going for. Jake Gyllenhaal's Davis loses his wife in a car accident, lashes out by claiming he never really loved her, and deals with his grief by taking things apart - and yes, eventually, demolishing them. It feels derivative of movies like American Beauty or Fight Club where there's some event that causes the main character to disconnect from society in bizarre and unexpected ways. But as Demolition goes on it turns more and more formulaic. Davis strikes up a friendship with his paramour's oddball son and, you know, The Healing Process Begins and all that stuff. It's okay; Gyllenhaal puts in a good performance, the kid actor is not entirely insufferable, there's good music, some funny scenes, etc. The direction itself is pretty bland though, not really what I would have expected from Jean-Marc Vallee, and overall there is a feeling that the movie thinks it's more clever and original than it actually is.