Review: Grief gets weird in Vallee's 'Demolition'

What if he, instead, started writing letters to a vending machine company and dismantling every object in sight?

[...] at the wake, instead of socializing, he goes into a study to compose a letter to the vending machine company whose hospital unit failed to give him the Peanut M&Ms he paid for.

Davis starts writing letters to the vending machine company on a regular basis, and, in his free time, decides to take everything apart including, but not limited to, a fridge, a bathroom stall, a bathroom light fixture and a random house.

[...] the eccentric working class side characters arrive — Karen (Naomi Watts), a customer service rep at the vending machine company who was moved by his confessional letters, and her angst-ridden pre-teen son Chris (Judah Lewis).

Cloying plot revelations aside, the film is a stimulating step forward for Vallée, who, with "Wild" and "Dallas Buyers Club," has inadvertently become the go-to director for actors craving that Oscar nomination.

Demolition," a Fox Searchlight Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "language, some sexual references, drug use and disturbing behavior.