A few tweaks from greatness!

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2013)

I really liked Don Jon. I love every second on this screen, but its what is not on screen that cap its' potential. This movie had potential to be wonderful and charming while still vulgar and real much like Silver Linings Playbook, but better. The two of these films line up very closely, but Silver Linings takes much more time on the characters ultimately leading to a better film.
Let me first say how much I enjoyed the premise of this movie. The premise is only porn. That's it. It moves from many different sub-stories within that that form one comprehensive story. This premise is absolutely genius. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a fantastic job here as he dives deeper into each layer and giving new perspectives every few scenes. The plot of this is very simple, yet complex, much like the ideology of porn. There is something about it that is simple and easy (to access or rid), but there is always something bringing us back, and we don't know what that is.
Here is where the movie falls short though. Standing at 90 minutes, Don Jon lacks depth. We see many main characters and we are only scratching the surface with them. Julianne Moore and Scarlet Johansson's characters both are very interesting, yet we only see them for face value. We see a broken Julianne Moore through her interactions, but never dive fully into her brokenness. We see a sheltered Scarlet who upon confrontation refuses to accept reality and goes about her way. Primarily though, we see Jon. We go through all these changes in concrete and perspective with him. Jon is a very relateable and venerable character. His perspective is the only true depth we get. We go through his trials every step of the way and every step brings a new perspective we did not see before whether it be something unnoticed through Scarlet, Julianne, the Church, or even his workout routine.
When it is time for the movie to end, JGL takes 5 minutes to wrap everything up. The way this is great because it shows the true unfinishedness of life and choices, but the problem is we don't get enough of the other characters for the ending to make a real impact. If these characters were explored throughout the movie for total of 30 minutes extra, the impact would be phenomenal. I love the way the film ends, but it seems rushed. With an extra 10 minutes to see Jon pour himself into these other characters, I would have been much more satisfied.
Ultimately, Don Jon is great, but with an extra 40 minutes of completing characters, this could have been exemplary. Silver Linings Playbook spend an hour more and had about the same amount of story. It was that extra filler that really made the movie great, but it was missing relatability. Silver Linings was wonderful, but I felt a real connection with the character of Jon. I gave Silver Linings a 9/10 and I give Don Jon an 8/10, but with more character, this could have easily been a 10/10.