In his first time directing, Joseph Gordon-Levitt proved that he can tell stories from behind the camera as well as he can from the front. With Don Jon, he was fortunate enough to do both. The ambitious feature production was written, directed, and starred in by JGL and it certainly got the attention of the industry upon its release. Clearly a passion project, the budget was projected to be modest yet it managed to turn a profit as it soon found an audience. Still, grossing nearly forty million dollars worldwide indicates that it just hasn’t been seen enough.
Don Jon deals with porn addiction, so it’s not insurmountable to think this alone could’ve kept it from being bigger than it was.
Could the subject matter of the movie have inhibited its reach? Don Jon deals with porn addiction, so it’s not insurmountable to think this alone could’ve kept it from being bigger than it was. JGL leads the pack as ‘Jon’, a suave looking fast talking pick up artist who never seems to have a problem wooing the ladies. Night after night he manages to get beautiful women back to his apartment to do the deed, but there’s just one problem. He has not only an insatiable appetite for regular sex, he also has an unhealthy dependability on the need to watch porn. Upon meeting knockout beauty Barbara Sugarman, he thinks that maybe he’s finally found the one who can fill the void of what’s missing in his life, thus turning him into a one woman man.
Saying “not bad for your first time” would not do JGL any justice. If Don Jon is the measure of what he can create in his first crack at a feature, there’s no telling what’s in store for his next project. The dialogue, the montages, the plot structure, and the performances of him and the other actors come together to make a very complete story. His shooting/editing style is clearly influenced by a slew of famous directors, yet somehow he’s able to make it appear as though this is all him with the way he splashes everything together. The comedic bits of the movie are also written with intelligence, keeping all of the humorous moments from coming off as gags or shock value. The other performers, mainly on the part of Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore, fit nicely into Don Jon’s universe. Johansson plays a character so dissimilar from her other roles in the past that she’s almost unrecognizable with how she speaks or behaves physically. Moore of course is a veteran, fully satisfying the need of her character’s presence in the film and giving the overall story its true purpose.
So not bad? Right, not bad at all. Joseph Gordon-Levitt made this almost a decade ago, but rumor has it he’s returning to the director’s chair soon. Before that happens though, see Don Jon. It’s a smart ‘dramedy’ with great a lesson on the dangers of addiction, objectification, and it eventually gets around to promoting healthy sex habits within stable relationships. It’s streaming on Netflix in some areas, though, this is solid flick to own.
