Don Jon

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One of the taglines for Don Jon is "Everyone loves a happy ending." While for the most part that statement is true, unsatisfying endings don't often see a viewer leave the theater happy. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a man who has vocalized his appreciation for high-quality movies, truly delivers the funniest and one of the smartest movies this year so far, not only through his award-worthy performance, but also with his ingenious writing and directing. Don Jon had an amazing start, and an amazing story to tell. But he had to include that last 60 seconds of the movie.

"My body. My pad. My ride. My family. My church. My boys. My girls. My porn." Those are the only thing Jon cares about. A shallow and stereotypical Jersey-boy twenty-something, Jon has the ability to get with any girl he sets his eyes on. But due to the inconveniences of a partner's preferences, he'd rather watch porn than have sex. When he finally commits to his latest "dime" Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), she tells him one rule: "Don't lie to me." The way she says it fails to convey the attitude of "I've been lied to before, and I don't want to get hurt again," but rather "If you lie to me, I'm out, and there's no way you can do any better than me."

Keeping Jon on as unreasonably short leash, Barbara monitors Jon's internet history, makes him go to night school, and won't let him even discuss the idea of cleaning his own apartment - something she could never see a "real-man" doing. At Jon's night class, he meets Esther (Julianne Moore), an emotional and personally-invasive woman who has about 20 years on him. Anyone could guess where things could easily go with this character, and surprisingly, things go there.

The character of Esther is seriously flawed. A revelation about her past is made late in the movie, and her actions and behaviors in no way match up to the personality one would expect from someone with her issues. Taking a night class? Yup, that's conceivable. But shacking up with a kid, smoking pot, and giving out porno DVDs? Julianne Moore isn't what's wrong with this movie; her poorly conceived character is. Esther takes on too many personality traits and the details of her backstory don't keep Esther cohesive, and that's the problem.

I would whole-heartedly love to give this movie 5/5, and don it Best Movie of the Year. I would have been able to overlook the flaws of Esther had Gordon-Levitt not made it so clear he wanted the audience to take more away from her than the character offered. The last minute of the movie proves this and really end things on the disappointing note of how Don Jon could have been perfect. If you leave the theater 60 seconds before the movie ends, you'll be a lot happier than if you waited until the credits. Because of this, I can't give Don Jon any more than 4.5/5. But that's a solid 4.5/5. Go see this movie. You'll laugh a lot, be impressed by the performances, and if your love of Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn't strong enough, Don Jon will strengthen it.

Rating: 4.5/5