Review #760: 'Don Jon' (2013)

Like Michael Fassbender's character in Steve McQueen's excellent Shame (2011), Joseph Gordon-Levitt slick-haired, gym-obsessed meat head Jon spends his entire life thinking about the thing dangling between his legs. Yet where Fassbender in Shame was hooked on discreet and loveless meetings of the flesh, Jon's passion lies in indulging in a different, yet equally soulless, activity - a key modern First World problem - internet porn. It's a racy subject for what is, narratively-speaking, ultimately a traditional rom-com, yet Gordon-Levitt, here directing for the first time, manages to pull off the trick of being both sweet and provocative, regardless of it's many flaws.

Jon has a few simple passions in life - his car, his girls, his pad, his family, and his church. Yet none of those can eclipse the wonder of losing himself on the easily accessible world of pixelated pleasure. He goes out with his douchebag friends to clubs and rates women out of ten - ten's being 'a dime'. He regularly bags 8's and 9's and takes them back to his place for what he sees as dull, awkward sex, and can't resist a midnight liaison with his laptop as his weekend prize sleeps in his bed. When he finally meets a dime that steals his heart, Barbara (Scarlett Johansson on impressive form), he vows to change his ways and goes back to school, focusing all his attention on her. Yet regardless of how happy he is, Jon just can't resist having cyber-sex with his computer.

Don Jon asks a lot of its audience in that Jon is your atypical boring, conservative narcissist, one of those bronzed 'cheeky' chappies who manage to smile their way out of being an arsehole. He redeems himself somewhat by genuinely trying to change for the better, as Barbara's high-maintenance girlfriend demands total dedication. He also redeems himself in the eyes of the Lord (or so he thinks), by frequently going to confession and vocalising his Hail Mary's while pumping iron. I can certainly appreciate Gordon-Levitt's attempt to subvert the cliches of the genre (Jon and Barbara go to see a ridiculously sentimental rom-com starring Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway), but it does makes the plight and arc of its protagonist somewhat less sympathetic.

Suspension of belief is also required, as Jon meets a lonely older lady (Julianne Moore) who teaches him the way of true love and real emotion. It's a sentiment worthy of the countless soppy money-machines it's gently mocking, and leads to an ending so abrupt, it feels like Gordon-Levitt was scratching his head when thinking about how to give closure to the story. Yet Don Jon is often very entertaining, featuring a supremely confident performance by it's lead, and one of Johansson's best roles to date. Gordon-Levitt could be an interesting director in the future, as although Don Jon features many rookie hiccups and some chaffing dialogue, it at least shows he's in no way deterred at the thought of a difficult topic.


Directed by: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie