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Grieving investment banker Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal) returns to work after losing his beloved wife in a tragic car accident. With the help of a customer service rep and her young son, he starts to rebuild, beginning with the demolition of the life he once knew.
There is much to savor here, especially the unforced performance of Judah Lewis -- one more recruit to the terrific roster of younger actors who are streaming into the movies. Yet the film lacks the courage of its affliction.
You can appreciate the care with which director Jean-Marc Vallee has crafted the film, and the committed emotional constriction of Gyllenhaal... but the thing feels like a con job
The deadpan and sometimes excruciating discomfort on display, played for laughs, calls to mind the early, emotionally subversive films of David O. Russell.
Director Jean-Marc Vallée doesn't seem to mind when his movies become sun-dappled insta-redemption stories so long as there's a bravura central turn holding it all down.
Although the movie deals with important issues surrounding the devastations of grief, it strains for metaphorical significance at nearly every turn, even as it tries to temper its seriousness with offbeat expressions of humor.