Don Jon Movie Review

Don Jon was Joseph Gordon-Levitt's writing and directorial debut and it starred himself, Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore. For starters Levitt took on a role in this movie that was much different from stuff he's done in the past. That being said, this wasn't a bad movie. Levitt's performance was on point and hilarious. Johansson was good as well and exceptionally gorgeous and Moore the veteran of the group did not disappoint.

I'd like to point out that the chemistry between the characters wasn't the best and the overly forced Jersey accents from Levitt and Johansson are entertaining at first but may get a little old 90 minutes in. That being said it wasn't something that ruined the movie for me.

So Jon Martello is a young, good looking guy from Jersey who's nick name given to him by his friends is "Don Jon". He takes home a beautiful girl every night they go out so the name stuck. There are a few things that Jon cares about in his life that are consistent like church, working out, taking care of his apartment, and his porn. Yup he loves his porn. And he explicitly says multiple times throughout the movie that porn is better than actual sex!

Fair warning that there is a lot of porn clips in this movie. Obviously being rated R, there isn't anything too graphic that couldn't be shown but there's a lot of tits, ass, references to blowjobs, and the occasional sex scenes.

So one night Barbara Sugarman (Johansson) comes along and becomes Jon's new obsession. After failing to take her home after the club Jon tracks her down and asks her to lunch. They start dating soon after and he quickly finds out that she is super needy and obsessed with the fantasy of a prince charming. She even wants him to take a night class, which he does without question desperately wanting to get in her pants. In this class is where he meets Esther (Moore), who at first comes off as real strange and annoying, but Jon comes to realize that there's more to her than he thought.

Don Jon is a fun entertaining movie with messages that are quite genuine and more than one might expect. A modern romance that has both heart and charm and will have you laughing out loud at some points. I give Don Jon a 7 out of 10. A decent start for Levitt's directorial and writing career.