A Great First-Person Comedy and Character-Piece; A Fun and Funny Movie with Unexpected Depth

Rating: 9/10 (22 September 2013)

I so enjoyed this movie, laughing my keester off through much of it (as did most of the audience), and found myself marveling at how well its story was told and what it actually had to say. Really Good Stuff.
As you may know, this is the first feature written and directed by the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the main character.
Like many of those on-screen who've made the directorial leap, he proves to be a real "actor's director". He gets really good human performances from all of his players (including himself), in roles big and small.
This shouldn't be that surprising, I guess, when you look at the amazing list of great directors and actors he's worked with. He's obviously been absorbing the craft(s) of great filmmaking along the way.
What we get here is this New Jersey guido-macho fella telling us his whole take on things in first-person narration while we watch how he rolls. The list of things he cares about, ending with his Porn.
Though voice-over can often be done BADLY, here it's used just right. The tempo and tone of the images, cutting, music, etc. perfectly match this guy's whole vibe and world-view. In the way it just takes you right into Jon's head, it reminded me of different yet also awesome main-character voice-overs in "Taxi Driver", "Trainspotting", the original "Alfie", "I Love You Philip Morris", "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", "Goodfellas", or some of the classic '70's, '80's Woody Allen flicks.
And actually, a (non-comedy) movie that "Don Jon" really reminded me of on the whole - maybe its spiritual forefather - is "Saturday Night Fever". Just like in that movie, you've got a young slicked-up cock-sure guido-macho with limited priorities and ambitions, a hum-drum home-life, a couple real friends who he hangs with, and a way with the ladies. Both "Don Juans" are contrasted between their time at the kitchen table and in the clubs doing what they do best. Both have experiences with a girl their age, and also with a bit older woman, both relationships teaching them different things. And both movies (and their main-characters) would seem to be just a look at a certain shallow frivolous existence, but actually turn out to be a whole lot more. And just like young Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever", JGL in "Don Jon" goes all the way into his character, fully committing to portraying the guy for who he really is, funny and serious, attractive and ugly, all at once.
It's not just that JGL "beefed up" for this role, or speaks with a bass-voice and Jersey accent. It's the way he subtly reveals the guy's mix of confidence and insecurity, cluelessness and knowingness, and eventual "self-discovery". He makes us both laugh at him and feel for him. It's a Really Great Performance.
And it's not the only one. Scarlett Johannsen beautifully embodies her role as the Jersey Trophy-Girl, not just with hottie-ness and shallowness, but hints of a truly lost and unsatisfied person living in her situation. In the scenes of her coming out of the movie with Jon, or forbidding him to buy cleaning supplies while she buys curtain-rods, she really says a lot with a little. Julianne Moore does a great job here helping illuminate for Jon what he's missing, and heartbreakingly revealing what she's missing along the way. Jon's parents, played so righteously by Glenne Headly and (Holy Shmacks!) Tony Danza, are a hoot to watch, and go a long way toward helping us understand Jon. And Brie Larson plays Jon's texting-obsessed little sister with subtle mastery of facial expression, not saying a thing until it's really time to.
And the performances are allowed to flow, in a funny fast-moving world nevertheless defined by routine that's expertly created by the filmmakers. The bright colors and no-waste pace. The way the camera holds the same profile-shot of Jon whenever he's in his muscle-car road-raging. Or the identical head-on, in-your-face shots of Jon while he's lifting weights, making his confession to the priest, or flipping open his lap-top to get busy. Classic. Or the way the music is really loud and out-front sometimes like the soundtrack in Jon's head, the thundering electronic stuff for him picking up in the club, and the "romantic" full orchestra music for when he's with his one true love (porn, of course).
A great commentary's happening here... the fractured fairy-tale expectations we acquire (about love, sex, relationships, success) from all the media being constantly shoved down our throats (porn, movies, sports, advertisements, computers, phones).
Another related subject woven well through the whole movie is us being lost in our modern devices, which supposedly are meant to connect us, but do exactly the opposite. Consider the sister never looking up from her texting. Or the friend "getting" the girl's number, but entering "pony-tail" instead of her name into his phone. Or Jon's dad keeping his attention glued to whatever game's on TV, and their argument about the importance of TiVo. All these things go hand-in-hand with the dilemma of a guy who can get any girl he wants, but finds it's only the opening of his lap-top computer and the sound of it turning on that can get him "really hard." This Is Where We Find Ourselves Today.
So yeah, Watch This One...
Parting Thought: One of the best audience-reaction moments EVER... I went last night to see a screening of this at the "Academy" theater in Beverly Hills, with a filmmaker friend who's a member. Mind you, these are the big mucky-mucks who give out the Oscars every year. And Jon's girl confronts him angrily about his porn-watching. He compares his porn to her "stupid movies" she likes. You should've heard the laughter when she yells "Movies and porno are different, Jon, they give AWARDS FOR MOVIES!" and his reply? "Yeah, they give awards for porn too!"