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This is
the writing and directorial debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and he also stars in
the title role as Jon, a young man who runs a routine and sticks to it. He
loves his family, church, boys, girls, apartment, and most importantly his
porn. Why does he love these things? Because they all give him a feeling that
is unmatched by anything else in the world. Don Jon will most likely be remembered
as “the movie about porn” but there are a lot of things that prove that
statement to be wrong.
Okay but
first thing’s first, yeah there is a lot of talk about porn in the movie. Jon
loves it and states that every guy in the world loves it. He’s even quite
poetic when he digs deep inside himself to try and explain to the people around
him who don’t understand. There’s something that he feels when watching porn
that he never feels when he’s with an actual woman. He describes it as “losing
himself,” but even he can’t understand why he doesn’t lose himself when he’s
with a girl.
This
guy-driven romantic-comedy goes through its motions when Jon meets Barbara
(Johansson) at a club. After tracking her down on Facebook (porn and Facebook,
how modern!), they have lunch and start a relationship, but Barbara wants to
get to know Jon, his friends and his family before they ever sleep with each
other. While this disappoints Jon at first, he knows he’ll always have his
porn.
What
happens between Jon and Barbara makes for a good discussion. The greatest
aspect they both have going is that they’re both incredibly attractive, but
beyond that they’re very different. This part of the plot demonstrates a
careful pen in Gordon-Levitt’s screenplay. Barbara is a type of loud-mouth
bitch that we’ve seen before, but it’s shown with reason by the way she was
grown up and the love stories she believes in. Plus, I’m sure she’s not alone
in the world when she believes that watching porn while in a relationship is
considered some kind of cheating.
While Jon
changes and attempts to recreate himself to meet Barbara’s needs, he really
doesn’t make substantial changes until the unlikely friendship of another
student blossoms. What I like about the interactions between Jon and Esther
(Moore) is that just because she’s older doesn’t mean she has all the answers.
Her life is in shambles but still does offer an insight that Jon could never
have reached by himself.
Don Jon
offers a variation of the rom-com for guys that comes off as fresh because of
some reinventions. The film benefits from the chemistry of Gordon-Levitt and
Johansson, who tip-toes around their complicated characters and situations as
well as you could without over-acting. And after it’s all over, it’s tough to
not be happy for Jon, who with the help from everything he loves, finally
learns to lose himself.