'There's only a few things I really care about in life. My body. My pad. My family. My church. My boys. My girls. My porn.'

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2013)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt keeps testing his boundaries as an artist and that is to be applauded. The strength of his performances in the past few films grows steadily and now he branches out in to writing, directing, and starring in a film that is truly his own. Is it a great film? No, but it is an inventive one - and that is a breath of fresh air in the current Marvel Comics shoot-'em-bang-bang-explode obsession. The fact that it deals with the current focus on sex-rated themes may be off putting to many, but that the theme is solely that speaks loudly for a young writer/director to register a parody of our current shaky quasi-relationship fad.
There is not a lot of story so the more brief the synopsis the better: A New Jersey guy, Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love. Though he has many sexual liaisons those episodes do not fully satisfy him the way onanism in front of a porn video does. He hits on a tacky, gum-chewing, perfect 10 Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) but that continued dance has its problems. Finally he meets a very strange older woman Esther (Julianne Moore) who puts a bit of meaning into sexual expression and Jon's life changes - maybe.
Gordon-Levitt manages to pull together a fine cast (Tony Danza and Glenne Headly as his parents, Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke as his buddies, et al) and keeps the flavor of the accents and the characters very New Jersey. His writing for Jon's weekly confessions in church is hilarious and in general the dialogue is snappy. Gordon-Levitt spent as much time at the gym as he did creating this film and his very buff body is a showpiece! Everyone who sees this film should realize it deserves an R leaning toward X rating, but then most programs on television do these days, so everyone is used to the porn glut. Nice to see an actor take risks like this.
Grady Harp