Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee, back again after another screening. The movie I saw the other night maybe pokes fun at Jersey Shore and the guido mentality. I'm not sure myself, having never watched an episode. I would suspect based on the people you run across in this movie that maybe, just maybe, they're a little more likable than what I assumed. I can also say that this movie is my SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK of this year, which was my 500 DAYS OF SUMMER (another movie starring Gordon-Leavitt) of 2012. What I mean by that is these three romantic comedies, the one movie genre that makes me cringe each and every time, are not cringe inducing. Also they were the best romantic comedies of their respective years.
First time director Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and his HitRecord Productions gives us a movie that starts off with some of the most memorable moments of recent pop culture history. Read that as 'the sexiest'. If this opening montage is to be taken at face value, then sex, with all of its images and implications, is one of the biggest influencers of the people that we became. It certainly shaped Gordon-Leavitt's character. He stars as the title character DON JON, a guy who has anger issues, objectifies women, and seems to just drift through life one sexcapade after another, all the while keeping an impeccably clean apartment to boot. And that's his whole story, at first. Jon Martello, nicknamed Don because his success with the ladies is on par with that of legendary lover Don Juan, would be considered the typical ladies man except for one thing: he doesn't like ladies. No, he's not a homosexual. He's more of a, what, solosexual? Or is it mono sexual? Whatever.
Jon explains in the early goings of this film that for him, real life sex pales in comparison to the sex he sees in porn. He finds himself turning to porn religiously, sometimes even with that night's conquest still asleep in his bed.
Speaking of religion, Jon is definitely a devout Catholic, going to confession and giving very descriptive details of his sins for penence each week with his family. His father, Jon Sr, is played by Tony Danza almost as an older version of the Don himself. You can certainly see the apple hasn't fell that far from the tree. Youll see early on that his father is also a piece of work. Casting Danza in such a role blindsided me but Danza totally pulls it off. His mother, Angela (Glenne Headly, beautiful but underused) is one of those mothers that dote on their kids no matter what kind of oafish behavior they display, more than likely a side effect of marrying an oaf herself. And I found it extremely satisfying that Jon's sister, Monica (Brie Larson) is one of the most interesting people in this movie even though she says less than 5 lines during the whole movie. The looks she give whenever she does decide to take her eyes off of her cellphone, are priceless. 
Jon's nights are filled with hanging out with his friends (Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke) at clubs looking for 10s or extremely beautiful women. One night he meets Barbera (Scarlett Johansson) and even though he fails to score with her that night, he manages to track her down and starts to date her exclusively. She seems pretty wholesome, making Jon wait for sex until she feels they've known each other long enough. Oh, and they've hung out together with his and her friends. Oh yeah, and until she meets his family and vice versa. He doesn't want to wait but he does, partially because she has this particular talent that I don't want to even ruin for you. That said, she eventually becomes the object of his masturbation fantasies until they do finally hook up. Then, as you'd expect, he's right back to his porn. Barbera actually catches him looking at some porn one day, something she finds disgusting and he swears he doesn't need it. He swears it off but old habits are hard to break. 
Jon is at least attempting to get somewhere further in life than where he's at now. He takes night classes and it's at school that he meets Ester (Julianne Moore). She's...different, to say the least. And troubled, as she sometimes unexpectedly cries at random times. And very outspoken, even questioning Jon on his taste in porn when she catches him looking at some on his phone.
If you think you know where this movie is going, you probably do. I did. I also thoroughly enjoyed everything about it despite that fact. I found it interesting that there are no antagonist in this movie, per se. Or any over the top caricatures, which is what I expected. Gordon-Leavitt delivers us a movie that takes a closer look at a type of guido and shows that guidos are not as bad as people make them out to be. They've just been influenced by the wrong images, mentality. And if they meet the right person, even that can change.
Go see this movie, trust me.A+
Dueces, WORLD!
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