Don Jon
This had a solid plot, good premise and a few surprise twists thrown in. All things that make for a good movie in my book. I loved the way that they repeated certain plot elements to keep a common thread through the movie. The confessionals, the gym scenes, even the sounds/sequences they used when he was watching porn (that's the first time Ive use the word porn in a review about movie featuring a porn obsessed guy. Crazy). And of course the sequences changed slightly throughout the movie to reflect the current state of Jon. Love that. As he becomes a better person he becomes less and less meathead looking and more like a normal human with better hair. And again the sounds really did it for me, specifically the repetition of certain sounds. This movie could have gone into cheesy or classless territory with the subject matter, but it didn't, at all- which I would credit to excellent writing.
The scene where they are arguing in the Wal Mart (or wherever they are in front of the curtains) about cleaning was bizarre. I get that the scene was used to give us our first inclination that Barbara isn't as perfect as she's initially made out to be, but it seemed awkward and forced. I'm sure there could have been a better way to indicate that she was a little nutso without a weird argument about Swiffers. I was sort of shocked to see that side of Barbara's character come out. I didn't see it coming that she would be crazy.
Julianne Moore's character is perfect. Initially, I thought she would just be a side character with no real major part in the film. She seemed too old to be a potential love interest for Jon and frankly, a little weird. As the movie progressed, I started to think she would become a confidant for him. And once I started to see where they were going with her character and I got over my thoughts on the age gap and I liked their story line (plot twist!). Liked that she knew everything about him and fell for him anyways. Loved that when Jon was with her, he found what he was looking for and started to fill the hole (no pun intended) that was empty. He finally got a glimpse of what meaningful sex with someone you care about can be like.
I read a few Rotten Tomatoes reviews on this (because, duh) just to see what critics were saying after I watched. A few of them pointed out that the climax (again, no pun intended) wasn't super dramatic. I agree- and on that point it was also pretty predictable. Of course he was going to get caught eventually (who doesn't know to clear their browser history every now and again?). However, I thought he would get caught, she would eventually forgive him, and then they would live happily ever after. So glad this didn't happen. A few critics called it a comedy, which sort of confused me. I can't really recall any points where I laughed out loud. Maybe a quirky drama? But not a comedy...
Holy cow, did they have to film this in New Jersey? Every actor seemed to be pretending with their awful accents except Bobby (Jon's black friend). If life in New Jersey is like this we should probably quarantine the state.
ReplyDeleteWhen the actors and actresses weren't talking they did a good enough job, but listening to them was painful. It took me a really long time to figure out what Jon did during the day until he mentioned that he was a bartender (I think).
I appreciate trying to touch on the subject of addiction, but I think his life should have been torn apart much more. How did only one of all the women he was sleeping with wake up when he moved to see what he was up to?
This was uncomfortable to watch, and not in "The Office" sort of way. Showing the repeated porn openings and walks down the gym hallway were a waste of time. Was the director headed the religion route? The addiction route? The relationship route? Pick something and dive in.
C-
Why does an addiction have to destroy his life? To send a message to the audience? I think it's a little far-fetched to assume every addiction leads to ruinous consequences. And it didn't matter if he was ever caught by his various floozies b/c they were merely objects to him.
DeleteAddiction of any sort is a serious matter, but there can be exceptions to the "rock bottom rule." I would love to know what percent of addicts of any sort actually do bottom out. Media would tell us it's close to 100%; I'm sure there are highly functioning alcoholics out there who go their whole life without major incident.
Basically I view this movie in thirds. Act 1 is fine. A solid B. Act 2 is not good. Probably a C-/D+. Act 3 saves the day and is a B+/A-. We've had a few movies that have had ending which largely ruin a movie for us. This is the bizzaro version of those.
ReplyDeleteSo what the hell happened? I think first-time director Gordon-Levitt was struggling just a little bit in putting this thing together.
So let's start with what worked.
First and foremost, Julianne Moore was pretty damn good as Skeletor's sister. Her performance in the last 30 minutes is what really saved this movie from being entirely forgettable. I didn't care at all about her character in the beginning and would have predicted a different outcome for her. Moore's character is a real person. She's a widow, a confident woman and is someone just as happy to just smoke a joint rather than pretend to have good conversation. I thought her teaching Jon about what he's doing wrong came from a place of her wanting to enjoy what they were rather than suffering through boring ass sex. She's put up with too much in life for that. In short, her character made sense.
I thought the end wasn't predictable. I expected these plots to reveal themselves: (1) He'd win Barbara back after learnin' a thing or two from Esther. (2) He'd win Barbara back, see he's breaking Esther's heart, then go to Esther. (3) Barbara would be begging him to return. (4) He and Esther would fall in love and adopt a dog and name it Don. So happy none of those things happened. I could see there being a knock for no climax, but I don’t need something overly emotional. The climax was when he’s rejected by Barbara and just accepts it. He respects her as a person, not just tits and ass. That’s a big moment and doesn’t need to be dramatic. This ending and his time with Esther are above average.
One subtle scene towards the end was a nice touch. When his white friend got that chick's number, Jon celebrates it. It just clicked with me then that his relationship with that dude even was entirely one-sided. For a movie that at times probably abuses repetition, that was well done. This shows Jon is changing elsewhere in his life and not just getting a new hairdo. It seems to come from an honest place and fit naturally in the movie.
Gordon-Levitt does a fine job as the T-1000's twin. I hated that accent, but that's not a negative on his performance. His character arc makes sense, even if it took a bit long to ramp up. I rally hated him in the beginning: An repressed dude assigning number to ladies. By the end, he's not a totally different person, but he has been shown a way to start being empathetic to other people. He knows everything in the beginning of the movie. By the end he knows he doesn't know shit.
ReplyDeleteThis isn’t a movie about addiction. Addiction isn't just a behavioral thing, so maybe addiction isn't the right word for him. Porn seems more like a ritual for him. And that makes more sense. He has all of his rituals: Going out. Assigning numbers. Angry driving. Even how he chooses a clip to masturbate to is a ritual. All of them are empty, but get him through endless days of nothing. He’s basically a conditioned animal. Barbara comes into his life and allows him to maintain his rituals with a slight twist. It’s still an empty existence. Rituals are just worthless when they have no meaning and don’t attach you to a larger idea or other people.
This film loves repetition. The porn clips. The car anger. Some of it got to be a bit much. But at least the car thing was used well in the end, even it was a bit obvious. I guess this gets us into his rituals, but it’s a bit much. Strike this up in the neutral column.
I also recall some unique camera angles. Not sure if they were superfluous or not, but it’s not surprising a first-time director is getting creative in this department.
Even his sister has her ritual of being on the phone. His dad has foobaw. I didn’t care for either one of those characters. The most predictable part was the sister having something interesting to say. Her phone abuse was one of the repetitions that didn’t work. Danza’s demands for a trophy girl do make sense in why he ended up with Barbara, though nothing in the movie until that grocery store fight told me she was a bad choice.
What a waste of Johhansen. I didn’t even find her attractive. I don’t know if she’s a good actress or not, but her character just wasn’t developed so I guess it wouldn’t have mattered. The worst part of the movie was that argument in the store. It came out of nowhere. We’re basically told she’s controlling and have to accept it. Those middle 30 minutes are wasted by not developing this. Nothing happens in those 30 minutes. Nothing. It’s just awful accents.
The movie also struggles when it goes for laughs. I didn’t find the bros very funny outside of a few physical jokes. I guess some might find the jokes funny, but I couldn’t get into it. The geyser and him being erect was silly.
Random Thoughts:
I loved the opening clip.
Dude was way too big to be curling only 30 pounds. It's a small thing, but I can't help but notice shit like that.
Do people really stare at commercials with sexy ladies like that? Those adds do nothing for me.
In the end, I’m stuck between a C+/B-. Talk me up or down, everyone.
Think of the accents when you decide that final grade.
DeleteAlso, I read this review thinking you liked it - then, pow, B-/C+
There's nothing wrong with curling 30 pounds.... he was going for tone, not mass!
DeleteHe was a little too jacked for that.
DeleteBryan, a B- is liking it. Nothing wrong with a B-. C+ says it's somewhat enjoyable and is the score the average movie receives because almost every movie should be somewhat enjoyable.
Nobody is too jacked for low weight high rep toning!
DeleteI'll talk you up, Shane, though I rated this a C+ when I saw it last year. On second viewing, I'm slightly more positive, with the strengths getting stronger and the weaknesses staying the same.
ReplyDeleteFirst, those weaknesses, I don't really understand why this movie had to be about Jersey guys. Cooz-hounds exist everywhere, and most of them don't have unbearable habits and manners of speaking. I thought maybe JGL had roots in that area, but he's from a family of Hollywood Jews. It's a strange aesthetic choice, that I guess bubbled out of Jersey Shore being particularly popular while he was writing it. It doesn't add anything except affected accents, which not every character even has.
The character who doesn't, but should, is the sister. This remains my biggest problem with the movie. By casting an actor like Brie Larson in that role, and having her buried in her phone, you are ensuring from her first scene that she's going to get a truth-speaking moment at a key point. This could have been pulled off with a less-famous actor, but as is, it's completely see-through. Lo and behold, it turns out she's been paying attention this whole time and sees through Barbara. Not only is this a bad character moment, it's bad writing, such that the viewer knows what the sister is saying about Barbara is true long before she says it. Prime telling, not showing, and it's a bad scene.
That's all I've got for bad. The original title of this film was Don Jon's Addiction, so it's a safe bet that JGL very much wanted to get that across, but Death of the Author and blah, blah, blah. I was less interested in the addiction part of it than I was in his actions as ritual, to echo Shane's apt point. Everything's mechanical and meaningless, and he does them because he's always done them, without self-knowledge or self-examination. It revolves around appearances, the least interesting part of him or anyone else.
The altar for his rituals are a base masculine pride, which he obviously got from his father. The story of Jon's parents first meeting is great. The big, emphatic climax of the story is the father telling his friends, "She's mine." He may as well have sniffed her ass and peed on her. The father's passed on that gross objectivity to his son, who has molded his whole life around it. When Jon Sr.'s leering at Barbara, Jon's not disgusted or offended. He's proud that his father's finally impressed with him.
While the men are searching for that dime that they can show off, the women are searching for fairytales and milestones. Jon's mother demands a grandkid because she thinks that what women her age are supposed to be. What else does she have in her life, but to live with the worst version of Tony Danza, scrubbing the marinara stains out of his beaters. Barbara has internalized a Hollywood version of romance, such that gender roles for her are ironclad. She needs Jon to wear a suit to work and make six figures, lest she lose stature in the eyes of her friends. A man with her is going to constantly improve himself, and he's certainly not going to clean. The romantic movie touchstones must be hit. Meet cute, fall in love, break up, return to each other fully committed, get married, happy ending. I loved her reaction to Jon's parent's story. That Barbara goes crazy for it shows that she's not interested in the details; just the fact that they have one at all is enough for her.
ReplyDeleteEsther might have been like this once, with the milestones and the routine and the ritual, but all that's been blown up for her. She had a plan for her life and a picture in her head, and it didn't matter. The gradual reveal of her character is well-paced and keeps some cards in the deck. I know as much about her as I need to know. She had an equal, giving relationship with her husband, and she's able to pass on that experience to Jon. I'll throw in my adulation for Julianne Moore, the other accent-less character. It just occurred to me that the truth-tellers don't have Jersey accents. JGL has a real issue with that state.
I took down more notes, but I've already written more than I planned to. Quickly, several directorial flourishes stood out as positives, like the quick edits and the repeat shots and the Pavlovian noises. I got a good laugh out of the Pulp Fiction-esque glow from Barbara's tits. The longer shot of Esther getting a towel was a good choice as a showcase for what a great actor Julianne Moore is, who like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, is incapable of giving a bad performance. Strong unreliable narrator trope throughout, as that's about the only version of narration that doesn't raise any eyebrows. Barbara catching him is filmed as an out-of-nowhere moment and felt very real.
I've wrote previously that if a movie has a bad scene, it can't rise higher than a B. I won't quite go that high, but I will go B-. Though it deconstructs the Jersey trope pretty well, it has to include Jersey people to do so, and I share Bryan's annoyance with it. Barring the bad scene and the Jersey-ness, it's a perceptive film that know who it's characters are, and a strong directorial debut.
Last thing. It's a cool coincidence that we almost watched Anne Hathaway in a romantic movie, but instead watched a movie where she makes fun of the whole genre.
^ didn't even think about that coincidence with Anne Hathaway, Kissel. Pretty funny.
DeleteI had wanted to see Don Jon for a bit and was on my Netflix radar but kept passing on it because I had heard that it didn’t live up to expectations. So first, thanks for the excuse to finally watch it. Double thanks for not making me watch the other movie you had started with. Although I did love the fact that we all seemed to lobby for it by pointing out our access to it.
ReplyDeleteI was really distracted by how Jersey the movie was, agree with Jon that it could’ve been anywhere but I think JGL just wanted to dig on The Situation and co. How dare Shane call Julianne Moore Skeletor’s Sister. She’s in the damn SpankBank Hall of Fame for crying out loud. Plus as Jon mentioned damn fine actress. Most underrated Julianne Moore role- Topper will support me here- Evolution, now that’s the kind of trunk space you want on a late model.
A complaint I often have with movies is that you don’t have to turn 1 character into an awful person to justify a relationship not working out. Barbara was clearly controlling from the start. Clearly she wasn’t going to hold back the tang she just wanted to make sure JGL was going to adhere to her marching orders first. I also hated her hair, it made her 47% less attractive than usual. Maybe it’s movies not trusting the audience to recognize an unhealthy relationship but they had to make her a piece of shit by insisting that no man will ever clean, nor will she. Her whole portrayal dropped the movie a notch for me. Sometimes relationships just don’t work out and people move on and grow, they don’t always end because 1 person is an idiot, it just works that way in movies. I think JGL first noticed himself Barbara’s controlling ways when she interrupted his work out prayers. She broke his ritual and it wasn’t even directly related to poon so his blinders weren’t on as thick in that moment.
The sister thing has been said although it was annoying to me that she was even constantly on it in church. We get it these people are here for the ritual of being here and aren’t necessarily the real deal, but that would make them even more likely to make sure the daughter isn’t on the phone because they are there for the appearances moreso than what they get out of it emotionally/spiritually.
Agree with Shane in that the last 3rd is the strongest 3rd as the best written moments in the movie are about JGL’s growth. My favorite of these reveals is when he hesitates and asks the priest whether he’s the same guy as always and then finally notices he always gets the same penance.
Don Jon gets the dreaded, eh C+ from me.
I thought Moore looked gaunt. Too much so. Probably on some sort of vegan anti-gmo cleanse.
DeleteNetflix predicted this to be a 2 star movie for me... and after the horrible narrator/voiceover that doesn't match Jon's voice at all... and sounded like it wasn't even Gordon-Levitt, I almost called it a 1 star and ditched it 10 minutes in. And some of the accents... bloody hell. It would have been far easier to just ditch the accents and locate the movie somewhere else. This is an odd as there is a lot I didn't like about Don Jon, but I don't feel completely negative about it.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, didn't really care for the plot. It was a solid set-up, but just didn't follow through for me. There were just multiple things that bothered me. We saw how much he struggled to give up the porn when Barbara wanted him to, even though he was convinced he cared about her. But when Esther asks one simple question, all is cured. He just gave up the porn forever, no relapses... just a few glances at his laptop. This did setup the final confession shot, which I thought was pretty good with his expectations and reactions.
I think one of the things that bothered me most about his quick epiphany based cure was Esther's view and approach to it. She wsn't against porn or masturbating, that's not at all what she was trying to imply. She gave him a video, she encouraged porn in a healthier way, but he never watched it. Why have her ask him about it later, if it was never gonna matter. It would have worked for better for me if they watched it together. I thought that's where it was going, that she was going to be completely accepting and open to him watching porn, but as part of their relationship.
I really liked the parts of the movie with Jon's family, at least until the last scene with them. Danza played the part well, and JGL worked well with him. It gave a clear look at how he came be who he was. Of couse, The sister busting out the words of wisdom like it's the end of a Silent Bob schtick was predictable and disappointing. Besides, in that kind of family, the parents are getting on her case about finding a man to give her a couple of babies.
I didn't need to see Barbara and Jon meet up one last time, either. Am I supposed to believe he needed closure, right after his sister pretty much layed it out that it's far better that they broke up? Was it there to bring us back to the thought that maybe they'd get back together? Just seemed unnecessary and didn't add much beyond showing us that he's changed.
All that said, it certainly wasn't a complete waste of a movie. I thought the acting was generally good. Moore was the brightest spot, probably saving the movie for me, playing the well written Esther to perfection. JGL was good, beyond the accent. But that's more of a writing/direction choice than a knock on his performance. Johannson was fine, but was working with a pretty weak characterj. I liked Danza and Headly as Jon's parents.
The repetition was well used for the most part, and allowed us to see his progress in multiple ways. Requium For a Dream was heavy on the repition when dealing with addiction as well, but I felt it was over done there. I was worried that Don Jon was gonna do this and push me even further away from the movie... but it didn't. The only issue is that it was pretty predictable since so many scenes were dedicated to it... the club, the gym, the car, the church all telling the exact same part of the story.
It was really everything with Julianne Moore that kept this movie above water for me. The scenes with her felt the most natural and genuine. They had the best acting and the most interesting dialogue.
I wanted to like Don Jon, but Netflix got it right again. It had a good premise and set itself up well early, but I just ended up disappointed. I think JGL will show up in the directional chair again and hopefully build on this. I did see enough in the directing, acting and parts of the film with JGL and Moore to keep it from being a total bust. So even with all the negatives, Don Jon still pulls out a C-
I love that they met up and nothing went to plan. Lots of couples meet up after they break up and it almost never goes well. I had expected that they get back together or that he gets the best of her. That doesn't happen. She walks away feeling like she won that argument and he just takes it. Solid scene.
DeleteAgree with your take for the most part there Shane. To me it's not that he takes it but he has grown and is able to also recognized the truth that she isn't for him. The relationship didn't end on his terms but he's grown since then and after the brief encounter he's no longer interested in going back to that.
DeleteRight, he wasn't interested in going back to her... So he just wanted to apologize, in order to make himself feel better I guess, when we (including him) just had it bluntly stated that she isn't a good person?
DeleteI want to stick up for JGL's range and Johannsen's acting ability.
ReplyDeleteJGL has great taste as far as what movies he decides to be in. When he was just breaking out of being a child-star, he starred in Mysterious Skin as a gay teenage prostitute and was amazing in the kind of movie that is so dark that I would never recommend it to anyone. He's a credible action lead in Looper and Inception (action sidekick anyways), and yeah, when he wants to put on the role he's most suited for i.e. the hipster-ish romantic lead like in 500 Days of Summer, he can knock that out of the park, too. He's started his own production company with hitRecord and now he's a writer/director with a competent movie under his belt. I'd call him a true cinematic renaissance man, though not in a pretentious way like with Ghost Coach himself, James Franco.
Johannsen is absolutely a good actor, but not so good that she can elevate a mediocre or incomplete character. She was the best part of Her and got snubbed by the Oscars, and I've heard great things about Under the Skin, a movie she's starring in that came out this year. The last two Marvel appearances she's made in the Avengers and Captain America 2 were some of the best parts of those movies, compared to her undercooked role in Iron Man 2. If she picks her work as well as JGL, we'd have a higher opinion of her, but there's plenty of bad scripts in her filmography like The Spirit and The Island and We Bought a Zoo.
Ugh, The Spirit...
DeleteDon Jon came in with a pretty tough task – get me to be on the same side of a protagonist I loathed with every fiber of my being. Pussy-hounding meatheads are probably the worst people I’ve ever interacted with on a fairly regular basis, and now I have to watch a movie about one and eventually sympathize with him. Overall, the movie did a decent job at it. I won’t belabor the ritual aspects of Jon’s life, but rather focus on his relationship with women and how it evolves throughout, going from a place of pure objectivity to a somewhat redeemable respect.
ReplyDeleteThe opening bar scenes annoyed me personally, but were spot on. Dudes leering at chicks like hunks of meat, considering only their 10 point scale. Great. Every story is about whatever bimbo they boned or tried to bone. Ok. I did love how Jon was doing chin-ups while they talked; figured for a guy like that. Of course, not long in he meets Barbara, a moron who is even easier to hate than Jon.
As others have said, she had her idea of men formed by too many rom-coms. I remember reading somewhere once that guys shouldn’t make fun of rom-coms b/c that’s how their significant other sees their relationship. Barbara takes that to the not-so-logical extreme, trying to morph Jon into one of these leading men. She winds up manufacturing drama by using his porn addiction to create a break-up feud. I was really happy they didn’t wind up getting back together in the end. She was a bitch, and Jon finally knew it. It was interesting that Jon didn’t tell her off though. The car scenes show that he’s clearly a hothead not afraid of confrontation, yet he doesn’t confront Barbara. This tells me that he just revered the idea of her so much that he couldn’t bring himself to think she was wrong about anything, but he knew she was wrong for him.
The relationship with Esther (agreed on Julianne Moore, she’s always good) gives us that juxtaposition of people being together because society says they should be and people being together because they make each other better in some way. Jon was never going to change for Barbara because he wasn’t a better person while being with Barbara. Despite having a 21 year age gap, Moore and Levitt had good screen chemistry, and all of their scenes were really well done.
I thought the directing was fine, especially considering it was Levitt’s first time. All the quick shot stuff reminded me of an Edgar Wright movie. The movie felt interesting enough despite seeing four or five versions of the same scene.
Overall, I have no major gripes with this movie other than the characters being so easy to hate. I’m never really rooting for Jon to be happy until presented with a greater of two evils, and then it’s only begrudgingly. Esther is really the only likable character in the entire movie. Fine movie, no major issues, but not a world I want to be engrossed in.
+ Solid directorial debut
+ Good relationship progression
+ Glad it didn’t go rom-com in the end
- I hate pretty much every one of these people
Grade: B
Riley I agree about Julianne Moore. Also that is a much better movie. This movie wasn't great. I feel lke it wasn't Don Jon's idea of relationships that had been informed by porn but only his idea of sex. His idea of relationships came from the obviously dysfunctional relationship of his parents. We have no idea where Scarlett's idea of relationships comes from. From my point of view this is about the hyper sexualization of a sex addict and his attempt at a normal relationship. The older mentor of Julianne Moore felt hackneyed.
ReplyDeleteEh wouldn't sit through it again.
c-
Sorry for arriving late to the party but at least I made it. Well, it's more like I arrived when everyone left or fell asleep. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, when it comes to Don Jon, I felt the same about it as Sean. I wanted to watch it but kept passing it for other things like the new video game Destiny - awesome idea, bad story - and catching up on old episodes of my favorite TV shows. Like Sean, Ashli, I thank you for its nomination.
I'm not going to give a deep analysis of the characters as all of you did a fairly decent job of this. What I want to share is how bad the plot was. Who cares about a dude who is addicted to porn? Maybe if he was unable to perform and had connectivity issues with Barbara I could see a better story but this was silly.
What I liked was the acting. Scarlett Johannson was great at playing that role. She absolutely nailed the part and so did Tony Danza. He was superb. Danza's chemistry with JGL accurately described how a father - son relationship can be tough and at times on edge.
Julianne Moore, too, was great but she reminded me of a woman I know. About six years ago while living in Bloomington, I met this woman on an "adult website" and she was amazing. Her and I had/have great chemistry and are still friends today. When I saw that Jon made it with Esther and realized all the things he would learn from her, I was glad for him. This meat head, which Phil accurately described Jon, met a woman who is going to get him on the right track when it comes to relationships. Good for him and now maybe he will avoid the Barbara's of this world.
My ability to relate to Jon and Esther, the good acting, and the car singing scene saved it from an average grade. It is by no means an "A" film but I would watch it again if I had to. It's better than Sharknado and way better than Tomb Raider so that counts for something.
Grade: C+/B-