It is an old story, one we have seen before and one we will definitely see again. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl and girl breaks up with boy for watching porn.
Thus we enter the world of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon—a hardworking bartender who really just wants to get his rocks off. “Don Jon” Martello is a simple man who lives his life in a convenient pattern, one that satisfies his selfish everyday needs: He smokes, drinks, has sex and, most importantly, gets his porn on.
However, this all changes when he meets Scarlett Johansson’s character Barbara Sugarton. Folks, many men would do almost anything for a chance with Scar-Jo, and our Don is smitten enough to change his routine for her. This includes giving up porn, the sole dealbreaker in their relationship.
This, however, presents a problem; Jon gets more out of porn than he gets out of real, live sex. Herein lies the crux of the film: Should Jon continue on his hedonistic path or should he strive for something more? This theme, although it sounds shallow, is brought to life with a vivid and emotional humor I did not think possible. Never before have I a watched a Hollywood movie that has dwelled so much on porn and its surprising relevance in everyday life. At one point, Jon is even seen typing “www.pornhub.com” into his search box, and throughout the film there are shots of what is clearly the website’s homepage. One of the best moments of the film comes when Jon realizes people can see his internet history if he does not delete it.
Jon goes through the sexual maturation pains many of us went through when we were pre-adolescents, which is funny as hell when it happens to someone else. He even has his own kind of “birds and bees” moment with an older woman in his night school class, where he learns that porn is not real sex.
While Jon’s struggles with porn and relationships are the main story, they are by no means his only struggles. His interactions with his family, friends and especially the Catholic Church add another level of humor and humanity to the story.
Ultimately, “Don Jon” is predictable romantic comedy that is not going to break any new ground in film or win any screenwriting awards. However, the dialogue and characters, led by Gordon-Levitt’s Mark Wahlberg-esque Boston accent, make this one of the more enjoyable movies I have seen in a while.
Rating: A-
