7/10
Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote and directed himself as the
newest cast member on Jersey Shore. His
chiseled abs and bulging biceps strain to cover for his lack of height, his
slicked-back, greased hair could ignite a forest fire should he encounter the
smallest candle flame, his muscle car spouts the noise pollution of 1000
Priuses, and he is almost never seen sans gold chain and wife-beater.
The chain supports a gold crucifix openly displaying the
centrality of Catholicism in his life.
Every Sunday, he confesses his sins with earnest energy to the priest
the precise number of times he engaged in sexual intercourse out of wedlock and
masturbated to Internet pornography.
Through voiceover, we learn Jon takes pride in his ability to scheme a
pretty girl back to his pad, but he prefers a solo session of Internet porn to
truly satisfy his urges.
Jon may have a problem.
His Internet porn hobby occurs several times a day and always
immediately following a round of out of wedlock sex with his club conquest
passed out in bed. These are grounds for
concern. This lifestyle description is
only the setup though – perhaps Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) can break
Jon’s routine.
Jon meets Barbara at the club, gets turned down which only
makes him want her more, and through persistence, ends up in his first
committed relationship. Barbara is a
good girl who won’t give it up until she is in love and wants to shape her man
into what the romantic comedy movies tell her he should be. Manipulating his urges, she gets Jon to
enroll in night school and agree to meet each other’s family.
Night school is a drag but bringing Barbara home to meet mom
(Glenne Headly) and dad (Tony Danza) is scarier than any nightmare. Mom’s only concern in life is seeing her baby
meet a girl, settle down, and have a dozen kids and will worry him to death
until it happens. Dad uses high-voltage
vulgar language to yell at the football games on TV and is more than prepared
to get upset at the slightest provocation.
Don Jon is Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut. He pulls off the creative trifecta. His script is fresh and original, his acting
is believable, and his film is memorable.
Played by a harsher actor without as much of a kid’s face, Jake
Gyllenhaal or Ryan Gosling, Don could have been a real schmuck. Instead, Jon shows us he has room for
improvement, not only with women, but in evaluating what is most important is
his life.
Most guys in their twenties fixate on their body, their pad,
their ride, and their friends. Jon
includes his family and his church - you would suspect this would provide him a
bit more depth as a human being; however, he remains quite shallow and
extremely selfish. Here is a kid who
needs to learn some hard lessons and hopefully emerge a better man on the other
side. Gordon-Levitt is just the guy to
show us and at the same time make us care about this transformation.
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