Joseph Gordon-Levitt made a raw, funny, memorable, and very commercial comedy about a very little addressed issue: a guy’s addiction to pornography. He wrote, directed, and stars in this film about a young NJ male, Jon Martello, who gets the “Don” nickname from his friends for his ability to bring home “10s” every time he goes to a nightclub. Don Jon’s issue is that even after he sleeps with these hotties, he is still left unsatisfied emotionally and needs to use his laptop to get a healthy dose of porn. Like women, Don Jon objectifies everything in his life including his body, his religion, his apartment, his car, and his family.
It takes a perfect 10, Barbara, played by Scarlett Johansson, to shakes things up when she is not willing to sleep with Jon after dancing the night away in the club. Luckily, his streak is upheld as he quickly finds another target, but he just can’t get Barbara out of his mind. He start to properly date and court her, but unknowingly becomes completely whipped to her every wish, but one. It’s the one promise that he doesn’t uphold, that leads to a real shake-up in his life, when Don Jon meets Esther, Julian Moore’s character.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Julianne more on the set of ‘Don Jon’s Addiction’
In his feature directorial debut, Gordon-Levitt does a ton of things excellently. The NJ characters are so well portrayed that they feel like some NJ residents I know from college. The characters are real, endearing, yet also super funny. All the scenes in the nightclub are hilarious. Additionally, Tony Danza, as Jon’s dad is so great that he gives Robert DeNiro a run for his money on his Silver Linings Oscar nomination. At the same time, he also balances the montages of Don Jon’s pornography with really clever and tight narration that advances the story while also drawing the viewer into why Don Jon really likes porn. The porn scenes are all real and many contain recognizable faces, but were re-framed in post production to maintain an R rating. However, several female audience members still felt it was a little more than they would have liked to see.
The always lovely Scarlett Johansson as Barbara
During the Q&A, Gordon-Levitt laid out the bigger theme that he targets in the film – the influence on today’s youth from the skewed messages they get in both mainstream media and pornography. The film contrasts Don Jon’s stilted perceptions on life and women he gets from porn with the absurd messages about love and relationships that Barbara takes from the numerous Hollywood romance movies she is constantly watching. Adding in the layers of family pressures, religious conventions, and peer pressure he makes a strong case for what a crazy world we live in. The silver lining is that this film is so entertaining that a bunch of people will watch it and hopefully fuel some open discussion on this otherwise hushed topic. One final benefit is that finally some of Jenna Haze and Alexis Texas’ best work will be coming to a big screen near you.
Cast and Credits
Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Screenwriter: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Executive Producer: Nicolas Chartier
Producer: Ram Bergman
Cinematographer: Thomas Kloss
Editor: Lauren Zuckerman
Production Designer: Meghan C. Rogers
Composer: Nathan Johnson
Principal Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Rob Brown
Check out Anna’s other reviews from Sundance 2013 here!