photo: Relativity Media

“His body, his pad, his ride, his family, his church, his boys, his girls and his porn”. Jon (Joseph Gordon Levitt) seems to have it all sorted, until stunning dime Barbara (Scarlett Johansson) crashes into his life. She seems to finally be the one his mother had always told him about, but what happens when she comes between Jon and his porn? Barbara quickly takes to fixing Jon up to her standards, constructing him into her fairytale prince and perfect image of manhood. Even Barbara’s looks and stunning figure (constantly highlighted by a frankly uncomfortable looking posture and ridiculous clothing) can’t keep Jon’s eyes from wandering back to the computer screen.

For a writer-director debut the film bodes well for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as there is certainly an edge to it which can be refined with more practice. Whether completely original, or just a more comedic and romantic take on Shame, Don Jon is a refreshing breath of air among all the remakes. The film makes no promises about having a higher meaning; it makes no pretences or apologies and definitely explores some interesting themes, including unconventional family dynamics, with Glenne Headly and Tony Danza giving an impressive performance as the constantly bickering parents of the protagonist.

Both Johansson and Levitt are stunning, but in an all too smug and self-confident way, bordering on the tacky. The characters all seem like over dramatic caricatures: from the Italian drunken father to the absent priest to the shallow and moral friends and Barbara herself. It’s difficult to tell how seriously the film wants itself to be taken, with Johansson’s character of a fickle princess lacks real depth. Esther (Julianne Moore), however, really does ground the film. She is Jon’s fellow pupil at night school, seemingly kooky and free, but with underlying emotional issues, and is the one to truly bring a change to Jon’s life. But not in the stereotypical way we expect romcoms to turn out. Maybe Jon doesn’t find the one, but he discovers there’s more to life than just selfish sexual gratification.

Yes, the characters are clichéd and difficult to truly empathise with, but don’t give up on the film entirely: maybe we don’t need to empathise with every figure we see on our screens, maybe it’s enough to have the break from reality and succumb to entertainment. The main point Levitt seems to make is that we all have fantasies, and that building constructs upon them can be damaging; the characters fight with their conflicting and unrealistic expectations of the opposite sex. For Barbara, the addiction is romcoms and the fantasy of a dream patriarchal family system where she is the princess with her husband being the king of the castle. For Jon, it’s porn, with the women selflessly surrendering to his every whim. But as self-aware as the film might seem, it never really delves deep enough to realise just how integral objectification is to the plot.

Anastasia Kennedy