Fox Searchlight has released a new trailer for director Jean-Marc Vallée’s (Dallas Buyers Club) quirky drama Demolition. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a successful investment banker who upends his life following the sudden death of his wife, at which time he reevaluates the choices he’s made and strikes up a friendship with a customer service representative (Naomi Watts) and her teenage son (Judah Lewis).

I was able to catch the film at the Toronto International Film Festival last year (read my full review here), and unfortunately it’s a huge disappointment. The pedigree is promising—Gyllenhaal is one of his generation’s best actors, and Vallée was coming off the excellent Wild—but the substance of the film is severely lacking. Bryan Sipe’s script offers nothing more than the story of an insufferable rich dude who is quirky simply for the sake of being quirky, and Vallée wildly misjudges the likability of his protagonist.. The film does feature reliably solid performances from Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper, and a potential breakout from the young Lewis, but ultimately it fails to impress.


Regardless, you can judge for yourself when the film opens in theaters on April 8th, following its U.S. premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. Check out the trailer below.

Here’s the official synopsis for Demolition:

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, amidst emotional and financial burdens of her own, the two form an unlikely connection. With the help of Karen and her son Chris (Judah Lewis), Davis starts to rebuild, beginning with the demolition of the life he once knew.

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