After screening Joseph Gordon-Levitt's "Don John" this week I was glad that my wife had been at work, because she would have found it disgusting. I'm no prude, but quite frankly, this movie is a little over the top.
Gordon-Levitt, who wrote, directed, and starred in the movie, plays a highly structured individual. He is a bartender who values church, cleanliness, his car, his friends, working out, women and porn (not necessarily in that order). Actually Jon Martello (Levitt) is a porn addict. On the weekend Jon and his wingman friends Bobby (Rob Brown) and Danny (Jeremy Luke) hit the clubs looking for action. A good deal of the time is spent checking out chicks and then assigning them an Olympic scoring. After the score cards have been filled out Jon, who his friends call "Don Jon" because of his sexual prowess, moves in for the kill. Problem is, is that Jon would prefer cruising web sites for his sexual gratification. He explains that while he can "lose himself" on the porn sites, that this really cannot be done in face-to-face situations.
During one encounter in a club Jon becomes especially enamored with a blond named Barbara (Scarlett Johansson). They hook up and soon become an item, but Jon soon finds out that Barbara has some hang-ups of her own: She loves watching romance movies and wants her man to cater to her every whim. Barbara eventually catches Jon doing his porn thing and is appalled, and when she catches him a second time, she dumps him. Jon is soon back at the clubs with the boys, but he has made a commitment to finish a college class that Barbara had convinced him to take. During the class Jon meets a troubled older woman named Esther, who seems to have some life lessons to teach.
The movie has some moments that are funny, but they are few and far between. I found the confessional scenes with the priest, and the part played by Jon's father (Tony Danza), particularly hilarious. The rest of the movie was repetitive, and actually quite vulgar: We get the point ? Jon is a porn addict. Be careful who is around when you watch this movie.
My Rating: 2 of 5 Porn Pleasers.
