Pleasant Surprises are always nice

Rating: 7/10 (10 April 2015)

This is one of those films where you have a really stupid story line, but end up with a surprisingly well written, touching and enjoyable film! Firstly, I loved the script and the story. On a personal level, I've never been great at relationships and used to be self conscious about it, and to see the journey our protagonist goes on to the morale where you realize that true love is not just all about sex, and its not about being overly romantic either but, love in relationships is about a genuine understanding between two people, and I feel that is a moral we can all agree with and relate to. Also, the film was also surprisingly funny in certain areas, funny because some of the situations are fairly reliable and also because the actors in the film (none of whom you'd particularly associate with comedy) just have brilliant comedic timing. The star of the film was without doubt, Scarlet Johansson; not only is she hot beyond belief but she is just so manipulative, and a down right bitch that I actually, don't like her anymore, it's just such a contrast to the way she normally plays her characters. The way the film is edited is also clever as you do not see to much graphic elements from the porn but you still know what he is watching.
However, there were a few elements that I did not see the point to. For example, Brie Larsson's character did not need to be in the film, at all. She makes numerous appearances in the film but only has one speaking point at the end and by this point, the point she is making is well established. In fact, it would have been more effective if the main character, Jon, had made the statement as it involves his story, but having a character in the film for the sake of making one point is not effective. Also, there were aspects that were not very clear, for example when he picks playing basketball with strangers over going to the gym, scenes like that that could have been cut as it was not clear what they were meant to represent. Its aspects like that that cause the film that stop me from really loving this film but DON JON still a solid film and I would recommend it as it gives a very effective view on modern day relationships. If this is Levitt's first directorial film, I hope it is the first of many.