One Shot Review: Don Jon1 of 1
7.9/10 Joseph Gordon-Levitt proves himself more than capable as a star but even moreso as screenwriter and as a director in his feature film debut, Don Jon, a modern day Saturday Night Fever which, though it lacks the same bite, gives us insight into a world that we've known only through stereotypes. Gorden Levitt wrote the film and also stars as Jon, a sex-crazed Jersey Shore Lothario (the title of the film at Sundance was Don Jon's Addiction who ends up getting more than he bargained for when he engages in relationships with two very different women. The addiction of the title isn't physical copulation, though he gets more than enough of that, it's specifically internet pornography. Even with the bevy of women he beds he needs to get relief by watching, and pleasuring himself to, porn. But Jon meets his match when he meets Barbara, played by Scarlett Johannson, a gum-smacking local hottie who knows listened to her mother and knows how the game is played. She doesn't give up her bed so easily and Jon is intrigued by her coquettish allure. Barbara has her own form of porn in the romantic films of Hollywood where sunsets and happy endings abound. She discovers his predilection for adult entertainment and is disgusted while he reveals his repulsion at her chick flicks. It's not a healthy relationship.
Fortunately that's what Gordon-Levitt is getting at. Jon does have functional relationships, particularly with his Italian family. His parents are broadly but sweetly played by Tony Danza as the block from which Jon was chipped, and Glenne Headley, as his put-upon mother. Brie Larson bats clean-up as Jon's ever-texting sister who knows and observes more than any of the rest of the household guesses at.
Jon also encounters an older woman, Esther, lovingly played by Julianne Moore, who discovers Jon is more than a dim bulb and helps Jon discover the way mature people interact.
The editing by Lauren Zuckerman has a crisp movement to it in the porn, whackety-whackety-whack, first third of the film which settle into a less-fevered pace with Barbara, transitioning into a conversation with Esther. Cinematographer Thomas Kloss brings his music video background to good use here in the scenes with the cold but encompassing glare and blare of the computer screen to the equally banal warmth of the bars that Jon and his buddies frequent.
Fortunately that's what Gordon-Levitt is getting at. Jon does have functional relationships, particularly with his Italian family. His parents are broadly but sweetly played by Tony Danza as the block from which Jon was chipped, and Glenne Headley, as his put-upon mother. Brie Larson bats clean-up as Jon's ever-texting sister who knows and observes more than any of the rest of the household guesses at.
Jon also encounters an older woman, Esther, lovingly played by Julianne Moore, who discovers Jon is more than a dim bulb and helps Jon discover the way mature people interact.
The editing by Lauren Zuckerman has a crisp movement to it in the porn, whackety-whackety-whack, first third of the film which settle into a less-fevered pace with Barbara, transitioning into a conversation with Esther. Cinematographer Thomas Kloss brings his music video background to good use here in the scenes with the cold but encompassing glare and blare of the computer screen to the equally banal warmth of the bars that Jon and his buddies frequent.
PeopleJoseph Gordon-Levitt
TitlesDon Jon
CountriesAustralia, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, United Kingdom, India, United States
LanguagesEnglish