With the excellent cast and some quirky dialogue, "Demolition" had the chance to be an engaging dark comedy about love, loss, and recovery. Unfortunately, the script and the characters never developed into a coherent whole.
What is one to make of the meltdown of Jake Gyllenhaal's character Davis Mitchell? Were the scenes when he is dismantling his office or bulldozing his home supposed to be funny? Or were they a cinematic metaphor of Davis's self-destructive nature?
Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts are good in their roles as the man whose wife has died in an auto crash and the woman who reads his troubled letters sent to a machine vending organization. But the relationship is so improbable that it was difficult to empathize with either of the main characters. It was especially unconvincing that Watts' character would be stalking Davis in the way depicted in the film. There was an unpleasantness about these characters that may have not been intended by the filmmakers.
Chris Cooper is good as the father-in-law and boss of Davis. But the patience of Cooper's character with his wayward son-in-law, who goes on a rampage of destruction, was also not believable. SPOILER ALERT: The film's ending which unites Cooper and Gyllenahall was especially dishonest. Are we to think that all is forgiven in Davis's complete failure as a husband, due his idea of restoring a merry-go-round in honor of his deceased wife?
In the end, this film did not go anywhere. The script sounded like a midrange draft, as opposed to a final, polished scenario. And the director never seemed able to make up his mind about what human values were being expressed in "Demolition."
What is one to make of the meltdown of Jake Gyllenhaal's character Davis Mitchell? Were the scenes when he is dismantling his office or bulldozing his home supposed to be funny? Or were they a cinematic metaphor of Davis's self-destructive nature?
Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts are good in their roles as the man whose wife has died in an auto crash and the woman who reads his troubled letters sent to a machine vending organization. But the relationship is so improbable that it was difficult to empathize with either of the main characters. It was especially unconvincing that Watts' character would be stalking Davis in the way depicted in the film. There was an unpleasantness about these characters that may have not been intended by the filmmakers.
Chris Cooper is good as the father-in-law and boss of Davis. But the patience of Cooper's character with his wayward son-in-law, who goes on a rampage of destruction, was also not believable. SPOILER ALERT: The film's ending which unites Cooper and Gyllenahall was especially dishonest. Are we to think that all is forgiven in Davis's complete failure as a husband, due his idea of restoring a merry-go-round in honor of his deceased wife?
In the end, this film did not go anywhere. The script sounded like a midrange draft, as opposed to a final, polished scenario. And the director never seemed able to make up his mind about what human values were being expressed in "Demolition."