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Demolition

2015

Jean-Marc Vallée

Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper, Judah Lewis ...

6.4

8,322

Drama Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal), a successful investment banker, struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash. Despite pressure from his father in law Phil (Chris Cooper) to pull it together, Davis continues to unravel. What starts as a complaint letter to a vending machine company turns into a series of letters revealing startling personal admissions. Davis' letters catch the attention of customer service rep Karen (Naomi Watts) and, ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"The result is the best Gyllenhaal performance since 'Brokeback Mountain' and a partially heartless character who manages to work his way into ours."	POS
United States	Lou Lumenick New York Post	"Jake Gyllenhaal shines even as ‘Demolition’ self-destructs. (...) highly contrived script (...) Gyllenhaal and Watts have no chemistry whatsoever"	NEG
United States	Kate Erbland IndieWire	"Gyllenhaal (...) turns in another wonderful and nuanced performance (...) there's glory in the action, freshness and revitalization, but (...) 'Demolition' collapses under its own ambitious weight."	NEU
United Kingdom	Tim Robey Telegraph	"Crashingly ludicrous mis-step from director Jean-Marc Vallée (...) Rating: ★★ (out of five)"	NEG
United States	Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter	"Offbeat, exuberant and occasionally quite hilarious."	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Director Jean-Marc Vallee keeps pounding the point that Gyllenhaal's character must destroy his old self to build a new one. It would be funny if it wasn't so profoundly unprofound. (...) Rating: ★★ (out of four)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"A frustratingly aimless soul-search that veers uncomfortably between quirk and melancholy. (...) Rating: ★★ (out of five)"	NEG
United States	Gregory Ellwood Hitfix	"Thanks to some fortuitously funny moments, Vallee's assured direction and Gyllenhaal's spectacular performance it's surprisingly compelling."	POS
United States	Stephen Holden The New York Times	"Mr. Gyllenhaal's strong performance still doesn't add enough substance to a film that is hollow at the center. It's mostly the fault of Mr. Sipe, who seems to believe that saying nothing is saying something."	NEG
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Jake Gyllenhaal creates some empathy as a man in spiritual free fall, but director Jean-Marc Vallée never grounds his protagonist’s peculiar mourning process in any sort of believable human behaviour."	NEU

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