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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 1 October 2013
This article is a review of DON JON.
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“There's only a few things I really care about in life. My body. My pad. My ride. My family. My church. My boys. My girls. My porn,” Jon Martello Jr. (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
If you want to pigeonhole DON JON, the directorial debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who also writes and stars, then it may be considered to be a rom-com; but in the same vein as 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. It is a conscious effort to wrong-foot the genre, and actually have something interesting to say about male-female relationships. Gordon-Levitt is unafraid to turn the air blue with explicitly frank dialogue.
The opening credits is a mosaic of pop culturally acceptable sexualised imagery, from Sisqo’s ‘Thong Song’ music video and Phoebe Cates emerging from a swimming pool in FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH to sports and game shows. A quick summary of our bombarding. We are being prepared for the lead’s love of pornography. Nicknamed “Don Jon” by his buddies for his ability to woo the opposite sex, nothing long-lasting comes from his encounters. These are one-night stands with gorgeous women. Yet he is not satisfied. That together with a pressure from his mother to settle down, Jon looks for a meaningful connection. As the seed of such an idea takes root, at the same time he meets a “dime”, Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson). Fully aware of her own worth, and what she’s looking for, Barbara makes him work for physical gratification.
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The audience is also slowly made aware of her foibles. Her bossiness is a drive for perfection in her man. Barbara tells Jon to go to night school to rise up beyond his barman status. At first her ambition for him, might have the veneer of affection, but her subtle demands grow. Barbara’s love of the Hollywood romantic-comedy is setting an unrealistic benchmark of romance - Sent up gamely by the likes of Channing Tatum, Anne Hathaway and Cuba Gooding Jr. in faux movies the couple go to see on dates.
Even with a living, breathing beauty in his bed, Jon, through voice-over, recounts his continued malaise. Pornography has set an unhealthy standard for sexual pleasure the real world doesn’t offer. Jon’s addiction to the internet clips is not as destructive as the compulsions in SHAME or THANKS FOR SHARING, but they are preventing happiness. An unpredicted line is then drawn between pornography and generic rom-coms – how these movies also make women dissatisfied with their lives and partners. The two are of course not equated, a parallel is observed though.
The focus is on Jon’s realisations. And they are delivered in a key set to laugh-out-loud. Gordon-Levitt directs with unshowy confidence. Using repetition of compositions and camera movements to reveal both the different ruts he finds himself in, and also his learning curves. The filmmaker has surrounded himself with a talented, charismatic cast. Julianne Moore and Tony Danza steal it.
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