“Don Jon” Review: A Joseph Gordon-Levitt Extravaganza

Don Jon is one of those films that, while I could say I enjoyed watching it, I will never know if I truly liked it. I’m currently stuck between loving the writer/director/main star, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but at the same time, aspects of the film made me question if I only liked it for him being it in.

Are we talking about Joseph Gordon-Levitt or the movie? | Promotional Poster courtesy of Relativity Media
Are we talking about Joseph Gordon-Levitt or the movie? | Promotional photo courtesy of Relativity Media.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jon Martello, a young man who is obsessed with a few things in his life – his car, his women, his friends, his game, his church, his family, his gym, and his pad. I always loved how he said that “only a few things” when that’s actually quite a lot. Early on, Jon brags that he can get any woman into bed with him, and when he is turned down by the beautiful Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson), he falls in love instantly, and wills to change himself to be with her.

As you probably picked up from the trailer, one little problem that Jon has is that he’s addicted to porn. Barbara, on the other hand, is in love with romantic comedies. The rest of the film is Jon trying to deal with his life changing around him. As he dates Barbara, he begins to distance himself from his “bros” and the club nightlife,  starts to follow whatever his girlfriend says, and attempts to subtly deal with his porn addiction when his relationship is in danger of falling apart.

What I really enjoyed about this film was the commentary on how detrimental it can be when people who view a lot of a specific type of media apply it to their daily lives. Life isn’t like a romantic comedy, and people shouldn’t change who they are because they think they’ve fallen in love at first sight. Jon and Barbara have to work with the fact that they both expect certain things to come from their romance, due to their obsessions, but that’s not how romance works.

Although I enjoyed Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s portrayal of Jon, the entire cast of characters made this film memorable. The family, played by Tony Danza (his father), Glenne Headly (his mother), and Brie Larson (his sister), play off JGL’s character really well. I loved that his sister only spoke during the film when she had something incredibly important to say, otherwise, it was like she wasn’t even there. Scarlett Johansson was incredible as Barbara (which seems like a weird complement, considering how shallow her character was), but I also really loved how cool and collected Julianne Moore was as Ester, a woman who Jon meets later in the film.

Overall, I had some small problems with the storytelling, when certain characters reacted to situations in strange ways or how knowing something that should be obvious led to their downfall. But at the same time, I liked how Jon and Barbara’s relationship developed over time, and how you could see the flaws in it, but you could really tell he loved her, and how that could be a problem.

The only thing that might scare you away from this film is the thick New Jersey accents. But, if you can handle that, you’ll have a great viewing experience.

About Brie Garcia

Brie Garcia (COM/SMG '14) originally hails from Pennsylvania (where there is a cornfield behind her house) so forgive her if she is a little too obsessed with all things film and television. She can be found scribbling story ideas on notepads around campus and ignoring responsible things like "being an adult."

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