Imagine buying a brand new Porsche. It’s beautiful, has a great engine, and makes everyone around you jealous. Now imagine being told you can only drive it in subdivisions. Sure, driving a Porsche is still driving a Porsche, but you’re not using it to its full potential. That’s what it is like watching Jake Gyllenhaal in Demolition. He’s still great and turns in a solid performance, but the filmmakers of Demolition don’t give one of the best actors working today a whole lot to work with. They don’t use him to his full potential.

Demolition tells the story of Davis Mitchell, a successful investment banker, who, after losing his wife in a fatal car accident, struggles with the realization that he never loved his wife and decides to deconstruct their marriage. The successful investment banker develops a relationship with a customer service rep of...