'Don Jon' falls limp
In a movie about porn addiction from the addicts point of view, you might expect more nudity than what you get in Don Jon. Instead, you get a commercial for a popular porn site and a lame attempt to say anything (Sorry, Lloyd). I’d like to say that this movie is like Jersey Shore on steroids. However, I have never seen Jersey Shore, and I suspect that such a statement would be redundant.
What you get is the story of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s man-child who sleeps with a different girl every night and still masturbates to porn. Porn for Jon is all of the pleasure and the ability to lose himself with none of the messy side effects. Fortunately, he confesses these to the priest and is absolved doing his penance during workout sessions. Then he meets Scarlett Johannson’s character, Barbara – a ten or "a dime" in the vernacular of the club scene. Yes, Johansson is super-hot if you can get by Barbara’s accent and then her personality. Barbara has similar problem to Jon’s in that she loves romantic comedies. That means that her perfect guy is one who is willing to give up everything for her. Jon’s porn addiction comes between the two. This movie just doesn’t go far enough with its message… assuming that it has a message. If it doesn’t, then there is no real point in seeing what ends up being a lame narrative about one sad man’s life. Whether or not it was intended, the film does have something to say about what people are looking for. most of the wisdom comes from Julianne Moore’s character, but it seems to come down to Csikszentmihalyi’s idea of the flow mixed with the idea that people need to give up their ideas that are based on the porn industry’s unrealistic versions of sex and/or Hollywood’s scripted formulaic romances. If you are not offended by swearing, sexual references, Johansson dry humping Gordon-Levitt, Gordon-Levitt’s theatrical “O” face, or bad behavior salved over with religious confessions. You might find Don Jon enjoyable. Otherwise, you will find yourself bored, offended and quite possibly disgusted. Johansson fans are better off watching any of the Avengers movies where she plays Black Widow. |
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