17 Sept 13 - Don Jon

**this review may contain sexually explicit wording and/or situations**

His daily life consists of porn, apartment, ride, friends, women, faith, family, gym and porn. Oh, SouthSide did mention porn? He certainly loves his porn, blogspot readers. So much that hearing the intro Windows theme (after powering up the computer) gives him an instant hard-on.

The "he" is Don Jon Jr. of the funny sexual comedic movie Don Jon starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who also wrote and directed. Don moves through life watching his porn even though he "enjoys" having sex with the women he picks up from the club. However, the sex is nothing like what he views on his laptop 17 ...18 ...30 plus times a day, blogspot readers. With that much viewing, it might make you think he's a porn addict. Don would never believe he is. Every Sunday, he confesses to the priest his sins - the number of the times he has sex out of wedlock and how many times he viewed his porn. A few Hail Marys and Our Fathers and his sins are absolved. Then it's dinner with his family - Don Sr (Tony Danza) where he gets most of the New Jersey Italian machismo from, Angela (Glenne Headly) who wants to see her son settle down with a nice woman and give her some grandkids, and sister Monica (Brie Larson) who spends most of the movie forever texting on her mobile phone.

So, on goes his daily life until he meets the woman of his dreams one night at a club (Barbara Sugarman played by Scarlett Johansson) who escapes his advances (and cheesy lines) after meeting the first time. After finding her on Facebook and setting up a lunch meeting with her, she still manages to keep him at bay (i.e. withholding sex) until she meets his friends and family ...likewise, he meets her friends and family. Yeah, what a tease! Unbeknown to Don, blogspot readers, this woman has a hidden agenda to gradually force him from a player to a respectable Italian man. And yes, they do finally have sex but now it changes everything about his daily life ...including his porn viewing because Barbara views porn watching as a perverted act done by desperate, sick men. Lying and "cheating" his way around to view his porn, Don unexpectedly meets Esther (Julianna Moore), a down-to-earth, free spirit, pot-smoking classmate who seems to accept the fact he's a porn junkie. No big deal to her since it's hinted she watches porn too, blogspot readers, and he's then slowly gravitating towards the older woman while at the same time, his relationship with Barbara becomes toxic.

It takes his sister Monica and her one brief moment of speech (and to be honest, blogspot readers, it's a shocker when she does speak) for Don to realize the contrasting differences between Barbara and Esther. Does he choose to go back to the woman who was planning their entire future which would mean giving up porn forever or the woman who shows him how to love ...not be or fall in love but have a human connection with another without it being one-sided?

You have to see Don Jon to found out the answer, blogspot readers.

Overall, this reviewer recommends checking out Don Jon when it opens in theaters this Friday. SouthSide found this movie to be quite funny and serious (with some provoking thoughts) without it becoming too over the top funny or raunchy like a bro-com and too serious that the movie loses its comedic side, blogspot readers. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a writer allows the movie to flow with the simplistic of ease ...no over complex dialogue to bog down the scenes ...no over saturation of useless subplots and sub subplots to make this raunchy sex comedy into another goofy comedy about sex and porn. No, blogspot readers, Joseph uses a mixture of his character voice-overs to mildly clarify things to the audience in between certain scenes. Plus his characters (for example Tony Danza's character) were perfectly scripted as real people you may already know or seen in public. There's nothing phony or unrealistic about them throughout this movie. As a director, Hollywood should at least take him more seriously than the teen from 3rd Rock From The Sun. It seems Joseph has studied well at the Woody Allen Film School for First Time Directors because this reviewer sees a little of Woody and his comedic movie style in Don Jon. Though the movie is solely about him, he doesn't overshadow the minor characters when they share scenes with him. The movie can be a bit one-sided since it features a man who enjoys porn. Yet when will there be a movie about a woman who enjoys porn? Or is that taboo these days?


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide