Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore
“Don” Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) doesn’t care about much but he is very passionate about a few things: his body, his pad, his pals, his family, his church and his porn. Yes, his porn. But Jon isn’t passionate about his porn because he can’t get lucky, it’s actually quite the opposite. Jon got the nickname “Don Jon” from his friends because he is always able to pick up a girl every time he goes out to the club, and these girls are always at least an “8 out of 10″. So for a man who is able to pick up all these girls, why porn? Jon finds more enjoyment from porn than the actual act. But Jon grows tired of picking up girls and hopes to find the same satisfaction that porn gives him, instead in a relationship.
Que in Barbara Sugarmen (Scarlett Johansson), a beautiful woman who caught Jon’s eye the moment he laid eyes on her at a club. Unlike other females, Jon considers Barbara to be a “10″. Also unlike other females, Barbara won’t sleep with Jon right away, giving him a challenge. Barbara also finds joy off a type of film, hers being romantic movies. She feeds off them and uses it as a model of how she would like her love life to be: a Prince Charming will come along and sweep her off her feet. Jon is able to live with Barbara’s addiction to these films but the same can’t be said about how Barbara feels about the addiction Jon has for porn. Barbara walks in on Jon watching porn one night; even though Jon was slick enough to get away with it, he promises Barbara that he’d never watch porn again.
Jon attempted to stop watching porn, really did, but he still wasn’t receiving the feeling he was getting when he watches porn from his relationship – he would lose himself when he watches porn but not when he had intercourse. But that is all about to change after having many talks with a classmate of his, Esther (Julianne Moore). Esther opens up Jon’s mind that sex is actually a two sided act and if you really make it a two sided act then you will be able to lose yourself within your partner. Jon takes in all of what Esther tells him and finally was able to get that feeling of losing himself while having intercourse.
*SPOILER ALERT*
Don Jon is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut and he does a fine job. The casting was well put together besides the relationship between two characters – Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Julianne Moore. Gordon-Levitt is now in his 30′s and seeing him play a character who picks up girls every week is not something I would like to see him playing but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t play the role well. Perhaps casting someone whom to the audience is more believable that they do pick up 8′s would have been more suitable.
As for Julianne Moore’s character Esther, it was more of the use of her character than the casting. Moore did a great job but how her character ties into the story doesn’t make sense – at least not to me. Esther, who also attends the same night class as Jon, is still dealing with the loss of her husband and son who died 14 months prior in a car accident. After Barbara breaks up with Jon for breaking his promise about never watching porn again, the next female Jon gets involve with is Esther. Jon got his nickname for always getting 8′s or higher but no offense to Moore – she isn’t high on the scale when compared to Johansson. So that’s where the confusion begins. Why did Jon go to Esther? Luckily it works out for him as Esther was able to give Jon the ability to do something that no other female hasn’t before – lose himself during intercourse.
Don Jon gets repetitive when seeing Jon go through all the same acts of going to the gym, cleaning his pad, confessing in church of his sins (masturbating and premarital sex), clubbing and family dinners but it’s through this repetition we’re allowed inside the character’s routine and how he must break away from it on his journey to discovery. And when he was finally able to lose control during intercourse, the way he lived his life changed soon after.
Overall Don Jon is a fresh new film that is just as hilarious as it is original and I recommend to go see it in theaters but you must be careful who you go with. There are a lot scenes of pornographic scenes and can get a tad bit explicit but it all goes towards a better understanding of the film
What The Delio?: 8/10