RBR: Don Jon

Truth be told, I did not rent this one from Redbox because it's not available on Redbox yet. I actually used a service called MGO, which is an individual online rental service that gave you two free rentals upon initial registration.

As for the film, this is the writing and directing debut for Joseph Gordon Levitt, who also stars in the film as a young guido who has an affinity for online pornography. While he has no difficulty meeting and sleeping with women, he prefers watching the porn because he is more easily able to "lose himself" when watching it than he can when being with a woman. For him watching pornography is just as much of his daily routine as going to the gym, cleaning his apartment or going to church. This creates a problem, however, when he begins to date the beautiful Barbara (Scarlet Johanson). She finds it disgusting and wants him to focus only on her. The films sets up a lot of intriguing storylines beyond the tension the Jon's habit has on his relationship. There's an emotionally unstable woman (Julianne Moore) who befriends Jon at the night class he is taking. There's Jon's parents (Tony Danza and Glenn Headley) who always seem to fight and Jon's sister (Brie Larson), who never stops playing on her phone. As I watched I kept waiting for the payoff to these characters and their issues but it never really goes anywhere. I was hoping that the story would have something to say about the ubiquity of pornography and the reason people can become addicted to it. Instead it settles for a romantic comedy conclusion that the character seemed to rail against earlier in the film. The cast here is extremely likeable and Levitt shows some promise as a director, but on the whole Don Jon left me unsatisfied. If I had wanted that, I could have just watched actual porn instead. Rating: *** 1/2