Film Review: Don Jon

Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The directorial debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, has he joins the long line of serious actors moving behind the camera, is a romantic comedy of a very different kind. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival with its full name Don Jon's Addiction which was then shortened before its theatrical release. Both Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway agreed to play cameo roles in the fake movie that is seen by Jon and Barbara.

Jon Martello Jr (Levitt) is a confident New Jersey twentysomething who lives for many of the things that the rest of us do in life, except he has an unhealthy obsession with pornography which he explains is actually better than actual sex most of the time. When he meets Barbara (Johansson) he is forced to wait to have sex as well as give up watching pornography which proves a real challenge to him after years of being single and one night stands with no commitment.

Jon Martello Jr (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) with girlfriend Barbara (Scarlett Johansson)

Both Joseph Gordon Levitt and Scarlett Johansson do a good job as native Jersey youngsters, although their accents and behaviour do becomes irritating in a Jersey Shore type way. The best roles are reserved for the smaller characters played by Tony Danza, as Don's Dad, and Julianne Moore as Esther who befriends Jon at night school. They are both a little quirky and are the key elements to the comedic moments of the film.

*possible spoilers*
The film is actually less about someone getting over an addiction, in this case a less damaging one, than about a young man learning to be more mature and more sensitive. A scene sat outside the coffee shop near the end confirms that he is a different man to the one shown to us in the opening ten minutes of the movie, outwardly less cocky but actually more self assured on the inside. Many of the scenes take place in the same place over the movie with frequent visits to church, the gym and the same nightclub to less than subtly portray the change in character over time. It becomes a bit predictable by the final act but its still an enjoyable film

2/4 Solid debut for JGL behind the camera