Don Jon

Don Jon stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who also writes and directs) as the title character, a New Jersey twentysomething who hooks up with beautiful women every weekend but can’t make an emotional connection with the opposite sex. This might be because he has a regular Internet porn habit, which he claims to enjoy more than actual sex. His sexual habits get put to the test when he tries to start an actual relationship with Barbara (Scarlet Johansson), who wants everything in her life to be just so.

Sound like a comedy? Maybe, maybe not. The film's certainly been marketed as a bawdy modern sex comedy. But, the actual movie? I'd say no.

That's not to say it doesn't have comedic moments, though the film fails in most instances where it's clearly aiming for comedy. Jon’s narration on sex and porn-watching travels into territory already mined by many a standup comic over the years. Actually seeing it played out, rather than just described in a zany stage persona, is grating and uncomfortable (and I’d imagine quite sexist from a female perspective). Scenes out of his bedroom featuring his parents, with Tony Danza and Glenne Headly essentially playing Jersey Shore stereotypes recast as sitcom geriatrics, get old fast. The few parts that do seem funny are comical in a feel-bad way, like seeing a drunk person make a fool of themselves. You might laugh, but it’s actually kind of sad. The movie makes it a little easier to laugh at its protagonist by using flashy and stylish film techniques, but I still couldn’t shake this sense of pity at the behavior I was seeing.

But to me, the film makes it clear early that it’s looking to examine its chosen themes of fantasy and sex, instead of just make us laugh. And after it establishes that, I really thought it might explore them in some intriguing fashion. But it quickly loses its way trying to explore these subjects, and offers only simple explanations for complicated issues.

The movie shows Jon having a very rigid routine he never deviates from without losing his cool. He's also shown to be hotheaded and not very good with human interaction on any level. Maybe his porn fixation is just part of another problem. But the picture says no, it's just the porn. The film's overall attitude toward sex is equally simplistic, and rather puritanical. Which is ironic, because the movie’s full of real Internet porn videos that seem to cut off at the last possible second allowed for an R rating.

This is Gordon-Levitt’s first feature as a screenwriter and director, and his inexperience as a writer shows in these and other ways. The formula and structure are rather repetitive. Much of the dialogue sounds stilted and overwritten instead of natural. But most of all, it tries to do so much at once, and doesn’t do any of it very well.

The intent seems to be to deconstruct the romantic comedy genre, while also offering insight to how our fantasies (namely porn in Jon’s case) conflict with the reality of life and love. The script sets up the romcom character archetypes in Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, and a third character played by Julianne Moore, but from there, it doesn’t seem like it knows what to say. It reaches some rather generic and obvious conclusions: that porn is bad, or at the very least not at all like real sex, and that relationships are a two-way street. I think that much is pretty obvious to the adult demographic the film is made for (at least I hope so). And the narrative doesn't even navigate to these points convincingly.

Gordon-Levitt’s still a good actor, and he and Johansson do what they can with the picture, like any good actors mired in a bad production. There are even a few moments where the two have chemistry that seems very real, and very hot. But these scenes are fleeting, as romance and joy are abandoned in favor of impotent insights and dirty sex talk that's not very sexy. I guess Gordon-Levitt deserves credit for that, as it conveys the gaping emptiness of his character's sexuality, but it's not fun to watch.