“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.”
-- Morrie Schwartz
-- Morrie Schwartz
Gordon-Levitt as Jon Don Jon is not a comedy. That isn't to say it won't make you laugh; it will. With its mix of raunchy humor and fearlessness at broaching taboo, it would've succeeded on a purely comedic level if it had wanted to. But that's not what this movie is out to do. It wants to challenge modern expectations of relationships. It wants you to look in the mirror when the movie is over and see how much of it you see in yourself. It wants to use a movie to question what movies have done to our personal relationships. Its tagline, "Everyone loves a happy ending" is even a merciless mocking of audience expectations (besides being a bit of double entendre). At its core, Don Jon examines the things that contribute to unrealistic expectations in relationships. It chooses to use romance movies for women and pornography for men, but much of its commentary applies to anything that makes people view relationships as something that will provide fulfillment without work.
Johansson as Barbara Don Jon conducts itself with a confidence in all respects that's surprising given its guidance by first-time feature length writer/director Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The dialogue flows naturally, the pacing is superb, and we have a genuine interest in whether these characters can grow. Every character feels distinct, and has a role to play.
The titular Jon is like a character off The Jersey Shore that we can actually root for. There's depth behind his gym rat physique that I'm not sure JGL meant to portray early in the movie. His addiction to pornography has left him with a shallow view of women, openly bragging about his streak of bringing home "dimes". His father, played by a fake-tanned, toned Tony Danza judges his son's potential mates purely based on attractiveness, while his mother just wants him to pair off and give her grandchildren, each in their own way expressing their one-dimensional beliefs about what a relationship provides. Scarlett Johansson plays Jon's love interest, a woman conditioned by romance movies to believe that men will make sacrifices for her and contort themselves to her view of what a man should be without any compromise from her. Jon's two friends play the better and lesser halves of his personality taken to an extreme, with Danny being the womanizing side, in awe of Jon's ability to take home good-looking women, and Bobby, who acts as the audience's voice in many scenes. Brie Larson plays Jon's sister, and though she only stops texting long enough to have one line, it is one of the best in the movie. Julianne Moore is the only one who feels slightly miscast to me, although her part of a pot-smoking MILF comes with the requisite waterworks for always-a-fan-of-crying Moore. I can't help but wonder what Michelle Pfeiffer would have done with the character.
The titular Jon is like a character off The Jersey Shore that we can actually root for. There's depth behind his gym rat physique that I'm not sure JGL meant to portray early in the movie. His addiction to pornography has left him with a shallow view of women, openly bragging about his streak of bringing home "dimes". His father, played by a fake-tanned, toned Tony Danza judges his son's potential mates purely based on attractiveness, while his mother just wants him to pair off and give her grandchildren, each in their own way expressing their one-dimensional beliefs about what a relationship provides. Scarlett Johansson plays Jon's love interest, a woman conditioned by romance movies to believe that men will make sacrifices for her and contort themselves to her view of what a man should be without any compromise from her. Jon's two friends play the better and lesser halves of his personality taken to an extreme, with Danny being the womanizing side, in awe of Jon's ability to take home good-looking women, and Bobby, who acts as the audience's voice in many scenes. Brie Larson plays Jon's sister, and though she only stops texting long enough to have one line, it is one of the best in the movie. Julianne Moore is the only one who feels slightly miscast to me, although her part of a pot-smoking MILF comes with the requisite waterworks for always-a-fan-of-crying Moore. I can't help but wonder what Michelle Pfeiffer would have done with the character.
Moore as Esther The confessional scenes, where Jon views his assigned penance as a measure of his personal growth, serve as a reminder of our society's tendency to keep score on everything. Which characters will grow and which will remain stubbornly clinging to their selfish views on interpersonal connections is the tension the movie has as an undercurrent.
The best movies are the ones that ask interesting questions that they don't fully intend to answer. Beyond all the larger, overarching questions Don Jon leaves you with, the simplest and final is, "Was that a happy ending?"
The best movies are the ones that ask interesting questions that they don't fully intend to answer. Beyond all the larger, overarching questions Don Jon leaves you with, the simplest and final is, "Was that a happy ending?"
A nearly flawless romance movie that portends great things from Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the future
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