Joseph Gordon-Levitt has had a very busy year. He starred in four major motion pictures, and somehow has also found time to write and star in his directorial debut which has just premiered at Sundance. And boy, has he come a very long way since he left off being young Tommy in ‘3rd Rock From The Sun’ just a little over 10 years ago. In Don Jon, Mr.G-L has written himself a plum part in this charming comedy that will never go down in the annals of history as a great movie, but it is blissfully funny and wonderfully entertaining. It is a real cloud-pleaser.
Jon is a handsome Italian-Catholic New Jersey barman. In a frenetic fast-paced opening we quickly learn the only things that matter to him are his body, his pad, his car, his family, his boys, and his girls. Each weekend he loves hanging out with his buddies, and then takes centre stage of the dance floor looking for the prefect high scoring girl that he can ‘dime’ i.e. dance up to her, make out with her, escort her to a cab, and home. Next day he will of course ask for forgiveness when he takes Confession at Sunday Morning Mass with his family, which will clean his slate with God until next week.
But that isn’t quite all to this ‘Don Juan’ Jon’s life, as no matter how hot his conquests are, he still much prefers getting off by watching porn on websites similar to watchmygf. Lots of it too. Often 10-20 times a day, and sometimes when that night’s Date is still there in his bed. And each week God ‘forgives’ that sin too.
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Then one fateful Saturday night he spots the perfect ’10’ girl. Barbara is stunning and she knows it, and when Jon makes his move, she rebuffs him at first, and even when she eventually relents, its all on her terms. She will not put out for weeks, making Jon totally desperate in many ways. The sex is hot, but still not enough for Jon, and when Barbara catches him in flagrante delicto in front of his computer one night, all hell lets lose. Not the ‘god-forgiving’ kind either. He bluffs his way out of it this time, so Barbara starts to focus on making an honest man out of him.
One of the demands she makes of him is that he takes night school classes so he can ‘better himself’, and its whilst he’s there he meets a pot-smoking somewhat neurotic middle-aged woman recovering from a personal loss and he reluctant befriends her. It leads to quickies in the car followed by intelligent conversation, the latter being a change and a challenge to Don Jon. It also helps him to finally realize that Barbara’s really not in to him per se, but looking for someone that she can train into an obedient spouse.
Where the movie ‘Shame’ treated sex addiction as erotic, here Jon’s compulsion with watching porn is considered harmless fun …. in fact they milk the humor out of the situation at every given opportunity. The very graphic sex shown from a slew of different porn movies Jon is watching is tempered by his hilarious narration so that it doesn’t feel sleazy at all. It’s the whole concept that he’s questioning the concept of complying to the norm and being totally fulfilled by a one-on-one relationship that may make people feel uncomfortable, but in this context I found it both understandable and hilarious. Of course, anybody experiencing some of the porn addiction symptoms shown in the movie should probably think about receiving some form of support to help get rid of their addiction, before it takes over their life.
Both the stories and the characters worked so well because of some great casting choices. Mr G-L as Don is the ultimate charmer of a man determined to remain single at all costs, who has an uneasy peace with his strident parents, and is quick to ditch his buddies when a girl comes along, but in the end, has enough testosterone to actually change. His chauvinistic father who he modelled himself on, is played by a very buff Tony Danza who I totally failed to recognise. Esther his older amour is beautifully played by Julianne Moore in a way that you know Don has hit the jackpot the moment meets her.
The real joy …. as far as acting goes …. was Scarlett Johansson as Barbara. I will fess up that until now i have always been underwhelmed by her acting to date, but here as the New Jersey girl who is having fun keeping Jon on a leash, she was adorable. She nails the part perfectly without falling into the trap of aping a caricuture Extra from ‘The Sopranos’ or ‘Jersey Shores’, and she is a joy to behold as she steals each of her scenes.
There is a LOT of sex in this , albeit short clips of porn films, that may put some people off …. and evoke the Rating Board to give it an R. Shame if they do, as it is a very contemporary film about a subject that is often taken far too serious and to which a lot of people can relate too one way or another…. as Jon says in the movie …. ‘any man who says he doesn’t watch porn is a liar’. And more important, it’s pretty damn funny.
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