Don Jon tackles a taboo subject and utilises it to create a witty subtle comedy.

Rating: 6/10 (24 February 2018)

This is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's baby. Directed, written, produced and starring the man himself. Technically he shows flair and promise, but the film itself lacks quite a few essentials. A promiscuous young man loves his life, where he follows the same routine every day: sleep, workout, party and have sex. In between these pivotal aspects, he finds time to watch pornography...to a point where he becomes addicted to it. Unusual subject to portray, especially for a directorial debut. It certainly is a statement! Combining pornography with relationships in order to create a comedy kind of works actually. There are moments where I did laugh, particularly as Jon repeats church confessions every week (where his sins progressively get worse). Gordon-Levitt's direction was extremely competent, I especially loved his quirky traits. Quick cuts of pornography to show his character's constant thinking of it, the repetition of certain scenes to highlight his routine and focussing on certain body parts of women to portray his infatuation with sex. The latter however, I do find incredibly distasteful. Objectifying women for the majority of the runtime was superficial. It was constant. I just didn't warm to it at all. Although, showcasing Johansson was a wise choice, both their acting and chemistry was well demonstrated. For a film that was over 90 minutes long, it really didn't go anywhere. The pace was incredibly slow. So whilst I find Don Jon to be a competent comedy with technical panache, it wasn't a subject that I was particularly fond of and found certain elements to be distasteful.