Better late than never for Joseph Gordon Levitt’s terrific directorial debut. This movie is really good, and I wish I were telling you that before it’s about to leave theaters, but…Oh well…
What Works: Although “Don Jon” is billed as a comedy about porn addiction it’s really about the fantasies young men and women indulge in that keep their real relationships from working. While Jon (Gordon-Levitt, shockingly realistic as a muscle-bound Jersey guido) would almost rather watch porn than have actual sex, he soon meets Barbara (Scarlett Johannson) who’s equally addicted to romantic comedies and their fantasy of a man who will cater to a woman’s every whim. One of the movie’s many clever points is to show that while Jon is really “addicted” to turning women into sexualized objects that he can control in bed, Barbara is really doing the same thing to Jon everywhere outside of bed. [Their final scene together speaks of a truth that only he seems to understand.]
The movie also features a significant supporting role for Julianne Moore as an older woman who’s not Jon’s “type” at all (he prides himself on only “banging nines or better”) but she gradually starts to get this tightly controlled meathead to open up to the outside world a little more. Gordon-Levitt (as a writer, director, and actor) has done something slyly revolutionary by taking a club-hopping guido—-the kind of stock character most movies wouldn’t take a second look at—-and having what could have been a one-dimensional character become a real person discovering the value of connection.
What Doesn’t Work: No film is perfect, and I have to admit that I wasn’t entirely grateful for all the scenes set with Jon’s dysfunctional family. All the stock roles are there: the bored sister who never says a word because she’s always texting, the mom who just wants some grand kids, and the brutish father who thinks only of football games and wolfing down pasta (Tony Danza, displaying some admittedly good dramatic skills).
What I Would Have Done Differently: Reviewed this movie two weeks ago so more people might be persuaded to see it. It really is worth a look.