Delayed Reaction: Demolition

The Pitch: Jake Gyllenhaal destroys stuff and dances too.

I watched this because Jake Gyllenhaal has been on a good run since at least 2012. In fact, other than the buried David O. Russell mistake, Accidental Love*, this is the only of his films I hadn't seen since then. The idea of the movie looked intriguing enough: a man whose wife died copes with it by destroying his house. I get the appeal of destroying something. It's satisfying in an almost inexplicable way. Gylleenhaal is one of my favorite working actors, so I hoped he could have some fun with it. And, he does. When he's tearing apart his house, dancing in the street like a mad man, or doing any "I don't give a fuck" activities, he's fun to watch. The man can do manic well. The problem is, there's not a lot of that.

*Which was actually made several years before.

My constant observation about indie movies is that they feel like short stories, which is fine, except for when there's not enough story to fill the movie. Demolition tries to get around that problem by essentially telling a collection of short stories that are only connected by how on the nose they are thematically. Just about everything Gyllenhaal does is pop psychology 101 diagnosable: destroying the memories of your old life, substituting emotional pain with physical pain, obsessing about something small to avoid something big. It's the kind of thing a 15-year old would be very proud of himself for picking up on. I prefer a little more subtlety.

Within the abundance of plot, there are some good performances. Gyllenhaal is having almost too much fun as this weirdo. I feel like I've seen Chris Cooper play this grieving father role a dozen times before and he always does it well. Judah Lewis is a fine young talent with a story that ended up being one too many for a film that already feels longer than it is. Naomi Watts is that cousin of the manic pixie dream girl who is more prevalent in recent movies. She's the woman who doesn't realize how unhappy her life is until it's pulled into the orbit of this damaged man (Amy Adams is a good example of this in another Gyllenhaal movie - Nocturnal Animals). Watts plays the part well, but she's almost too perfectly damaged for Gyllenhaal to chance upon.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend