Don Jon Movie Review


Don Jon (2013)
Title: Don Jon
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlet Johansson
Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Script: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Cert: 18

Joseph Gordon-Levitt really shows his varied abilities with the film Don Jon. It's a movie that he not only stars in as the title character but one that he also wrote and directed. And as if that wasn't impressive enough he also convinced one of the finest leading ladies in the world - Scarlet Johansson - to star opposite him as a trashy girl from New Jersey - who he cheats on!

Jon - so called Don Jon by his fiends because he is such a player - is the kind of womanising guy that hits bars every night, where he hits on even more women. He scores them out of ten. He gets them. He beds them. He forgets them. He moves on. He’s not really a very nice person at all. He’s a gym fanatic and thinks more of working on his body than at his job or on a real relationship.

His most meaningful relationship is with his classic American muscle car, or with his laptop on which he watches porn several times a day. He's a porn addict. He objectifies woman and even believes that watching porn is more fulfilling than having real consensual sex with a woman. Even if that woman is played by Scarlet Johansson who plays Barbara Sugarman - who has her own Twitter profile @BarbaraSugarman.

He pays lip service only to his religion when he goes to church and confession once a week, but he has no real belief in God or in living a good life. The guy is a total mess.
Gordon-Levitt inhabits the character of Don Jon fully with a vanity-free performance. He may appear outwardly beautiful with his looks and his toned body but inside he’s ugly. Gordon-Levitt pushes the boundaries of the character and the story quite far, certainly far enough to make us question if we can like his character in any way at all. Will he find redemption in Barbara Sugarman?

Johansson is also a delight, taking on a New Jersey accent, trashy clothes and a certain sexual ambiguity - she's out at bars looking for a man - but she keeps him waiting for a month until they have sex. This is Scarlet Johansson as you’ve never seen her before and she shows that she’s a versatile actor with a broader range than she has previously alluded to. She has always been a terrific actor but we have never been aware that she could act quite like this before - so removed is it from her previous characters. It’s certainly an interesting role for her and I eagerly await seeing her in her other upcoming, Indie films.

Don Jon asks some interesting questions about dating, relationships, men, women, life in general and mostly internet porn. It’s fun, interesting and stars a great cast. It’s probably not what you expect it to be and I think you’re going to like it!

Author : Kevin Stanley