By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Starring: Alison Brie | Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Julianne Moore | Scarlett Johansson | Tony Danza
Country: united_states
Year: 2013
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2229499/combined
Chris says: “Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the rare child actor who, as an adult has sculpted a markedly distinct career and identity. He’s also difficult to pin down, having convincingly played everything from a gay hustler (MYSTERIOUS SKIN) to a lovesick indie-boy ((500) DAYS OF SUMMER) to a thinking person’s action hero (LOOPER). In this, his directorial debut, he stars as Jon, a New Jersey muscle-head. An upstanding working-class mook devoted to his friends, family and church, he fashions himself a ladies’ man, albeit one who finds much more pleasure out of watching pornography than from having sex with actual women. Jon is not a type you’d ever expect Gordon-Levitt to pull off, but he fully commits to the part. His thoroughness in making Jon more than just a caricature aptly parallels the character’s own obsessive, rigorous behavior.
“As an actor, Gordon-Levitt has great chemistry with both Scarlett Johansson (as Barbara, a beautiful but social-climbing, domineering ‘nice girl’ he attempts to date), and Julianne Moore (as Esther, a slightly quirky but haunted middle-aged woman he befriends while taking a night college class). As a director, however, he’s assured but not always successful. His use of repetition (such as multiple shots of Jon walking down a gym hallway to his daily workout) is effective in depicting Jon as a slave to his routines, but sometimes his quick, transitional cuts come off as flashy and superfluous. The film’s first half is also tonally inconsistent, as if he’s unsure whether to satirize or sympathize with the macho dude culture Jon seems the epitome of. Happily, the film’s second half is steadier and considerably deeper, particularly as Esther becomes a more prominent figure in Jon’s life. Admittedly, it’s a little corny—life lessons are learned and Jon, despite himself, becomes a Better Person. But Gordon-Levitt and his cast (which also includes a funny Alison Brie as Jon’s mute-by-choice sister) know how to sell such hokum. DON JON has its share of broad strokes (so to speak), but as a whole, it leaves a pleasantly sweet aftertaste. 3.5 cats”