Don Jon

With the ever-prevalent rise and availability of internet porn, more and more men are experiencing erectile dysfunction, relationship dysfunction, and the consequences of addiction far worse and far younger than ever before. Don Jon confronts the realities of porn addiction on the young male mind. While it does not delve into the more severe side effects of porn addiction (like PIED), it does have an important message to convey and does it quite well.

Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Don Jon (and directs), a deplorable man living in New Jersey. Don Jon has the cringeworthy qualities of modern day pick-up artists: he is unchaste, disrespectful of the women he watches and meets in real life, and views sex as a wholly selfish endeavor (expects oral, does not like to give it). His friend group refers to women as numbers (she's an 8), "things" (using words like "it"), or disrespectful nicknames ("ponytail"). When Jon meets Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), he falls in love with what he calls "the most beautiful 'thing' I've ever seen." Barbara expects more of her men: she expects to be wooed, doesn't sleep with him right away, and flips out when she catches him watching porn. Barbara herself is not without her flaws; most of all, she is certainly naive, expecting a selfish dude-bro like Jon to respect monogamy being one mind-boggling assumption she makes.

Don Jon explores more than just porn addiction; it also explores nature v. Nurture. Jon himself claims his addiction is normal for men (obviously believing it to be in his nature), but we see glimpses of his home life (where his father continuously disrespects women in front of his wife) and friend circle (where his friends are incapable of treating women like people rather than objects to be conquered). Don Jon also hints at Barbara being conditioned to want the "perfect" relationship based on her obsession with romance movies, which few men (but in particular someone like Jon) could hope to compete with. When Esther (Julianne Moore) character comes into the focus of the story, the movie's once unlikable protagonist finally begins to see hope. Esther is arguably the most important character of all, helping Jon to realize his porn addiction is the main source of his poor sexual performance, and helping him mature from a porn-sick little boy into a man with some amount of promise.

While Don Jon covers a lot of territory and themes that most movies wouldn't dare touch, it doesn't quite make any daring or definitive conclusions. It also manages to be triggering to the same audience it is trying to reach. I am a former porn addict myself, and there are enough flashes of what appears to be actual porn in the film that could threaten the sobriety of any current or former addict. Be warned! Otherwise, Don Jon is a fairly good drama (I would not call it romantic or a comedy by any stretch of the imagination given its serious and bleak themes) about the addiction that is the least spoken about in modern society, and I recommend it to current addicts or the victims of addicts.

Don Jon was very well-received in its regional premiere at the Paramount Theatre during Austin's SXSW Film Festival. The film was written, directed and starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He did a really fine job for his writing and directorial debut, but he may have been trying to do too much. The acting by Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, and Brie Larson is quite good. I think it is Gordon-Levitt's script that leaves something to be desired. His character Jon is a very successful ladies' man who is also heavily addicted to masturbating to internet porn – numerous times daily. Many people will find the film to be quite funny and enjoyable. However, the graphic use of porn will not be to everybody's taste and may be off-putting to viewers – particularly female viewers. I'm also wondering whether the extensive use of porn will lead to the MPAA giving it the kiss-of-death NC-17 rather than an R rating.

JGL's script is well-intentioned and he is trying to make the point that many people become so self-absorbed that they lose the ability to interact with others on a human level. Jon is deadened to real romance by his reliance on porn. His girlfriend has an overly romanticized view of relationships based on watching too many romantic movies. They are both so self-absorbed and selfish that they can't really build a real relationship. Still, it was often difficult to figure out what JGL's point was and in many ways became clearer listening to him during the Q&A after the film. JGL is attempting to raise profound issues about human relationships in the modern era, but he hasn't quite figured out how to do that as a writer and director. I expect that he is going to become as fine a director and writer as he already is an actor. He has a fine future ahead of him.

New Jersey guy Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) only cares about a few things in his life: his family, friends, church, and porn. After many one-night-stands, he finally decides to settle down with a "dime" named Barbara (Scarlett Johansson). But not even this relationship can compare to the happiness Jon has when alone with his pornography. When he realizes his porn may be too influential on him, he begins to change his lifestyle and beliefs with help from an older woman (Julianne Moore).

Stories of sex addiction aren't new, having been dealt with most recently in 2011's Shame, but Don Jon feels different. Jon loves porn; he says it many times in voice-over and is consistently shown getting up in the middle of the night to go watch porn after just having sex in real life. He doesn't see it as an addiction, saying "It's porn. It's not heroin," as his excuse. To show the media influence on sex, the film opens by crosscutting many sexualized commercials, film scenes, and television clips over the credits, while actual pornography clips are spliced throughout. But unlike Shame, which treats this topic in an intense, dramatic way, Jon keeps it light, funny, and tries to show how easy it is for someone to unknowingly fall into this addiction in today's sex- obsessed culture.

The film also tackles an exploration of today's relationships. Barbara's own "porn" is romantic Hollywood films that Jon hates. These films have influenced Barbara's ideas on dating (she yells at him to stop cleaning his apartment because it's not sexy) and enforced her beliefs that typical gender roles are the only means to a happy relationship. This film speaks truths about ideas young people may have about dating in today's culture, and while spinning these topics in a mostly comedic light, it is still interesting to consider how much media pertains to our understanding of the world.

Don Jon succeeds in most areas, and one large part is due to its cast. Tony Danza is really funny as Jon's father and Scarlett Johansson (and her hilarious Jersey accent) steals every scene she in. The film offers up a good amount of laughs, and the purposeful repetitive narrative works in showing Jon's changing lifestyle. Most of the film is so upbeat and fast that the last twenty minutes may feel like its dragging, but it can be considered necessary due to Jon's slowed-down new lifestyle.

The fact that this is the first film by writer-director Gordon-Levitt is extremely impressive. Don Jon flies at a mostly fast pace, has a fun cast, and gives a great commentary on sex, relationships, and addiction.

"Don Jon" (formerly known as "Don Jon's Addiction") is the feature directorial debut of the talented and ridiculously charismatic Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He also wrote the script and plays the title character, a young man from New Jersey who's developed: a) an unhealthy addiction to porn; and b) such unrealistic expectations about sex and love (and sex) that not even a "10" like Barbara (a hilarious Scarlett Johansson, in what is easily her best work since "Vicky Cristina Barcelona") can satisfy him in real life.

"Don Jon" reminded me of a great, half-forgotten French film: Bertrand Blier's "Too Beautiful for You" (1989). In that film, a wealthy car dealer (Gerard Depardieu) who has everything – including a beautiful wife (Carole Bouquet) – falls for his plain, slightly overweight secretary (Josiane Balasko). "Don Jon" is also like Blier's film in the sense that Jon finds his "10," yet he's still unsatisfied. Both films are very different in tone, aesthetics, and geography, but they delicately touch in the realm of our own emotional misconceptions and immaturity. We live in a world where our ever-growing concern about self-image, and the belief that we must abide by unattainable beauty standards in order to find a decent match, have grown so out-of-hand that all we ever do is find obstacles to getting to know anyone who doesn't meet our own ridiculous requirements. We are always waiting for the illusory perfection. Levitt sharply illustrates this issue by way of porn addiction; it might be crude for some, but he manages not to fall into excessive vulgarity or toilet humor.

Also featuring the always wonderful Julianne Moore in an important role, plus Glenne Headly (I've missed her on the big screen), Tony Danza, and Brie Larson as Jon's parents and sister, respectively; "Don Jon" is worth the visit. Here's hoping for more JGL directorial efforts!

'Don Jon (2013)' isn't just a movie about porn (though, porn and porn addiction do play a large role in the plot). Instead, it's a surprisingly nuanced, emotionally mature and, even, touching affair that aims to break down the artificiality of on-screen romances. It draws a parallel between the unrealistic emotional expectations one may have if they watch too many romantic comedies and the unrealistic sexual expectations one may have if they watch too much pornography. It's actually quite clever in its own sort of way. It's also relatively realistic and reaches an unexpectedly small yet significant conclusion that seemingly couldn't be any further from its starting point. That's because the protagonist is a self-absorbed, sexist womaniser more concerned with his own, greasy hairline than the actual personalities of any of the women he 'scores' nightly. Since we're in his headspace from the very first frame, the actual film can almost be just as grating. However, it isn't long before you realise what it's doing and that its heart is firmly in the right place. Not only does it have interesting and important messaging, it aims for an audience that this sort of film doesn't usually reach. It's typically an enjoyable, unembarrassed experience. It may not look it, but it's unmistakably a film about love. 7/10