Movie · 2013 · Romance, Comedy, Drama · 1h 30m · R · English
Curator score: 1.9/10 (434.4K ratings)
Everyone loves a happy ending.
Overview
A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.9/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 2.84/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Metacritic: 66
TMDB: 6.0/10
Director
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Production
Ram Bergman Productions, HitRecord Films, Voltage Pictures
Cast
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson, Lindsey Broad, Rob Brown, Jeremy Luke, Paul Ben-Victor, Italia Ricci, Amanda Perez, Sarah Dumont, Sloane Avery, Loanne Bishop, Arin Babaian, Arielle Reitsma, Rizwan Manji, Eva Mah, Nina Agdal
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A brash, uneven debut that mixes sex-comedy energy with a sincere critique of fantasy, masculinity, and intimacy. It’s funny, sharp in bursts, and more thoughtful than its premise suggests, but the tonal swings and broad characterizations won’t work for everyone.
Best for
Viewers interested in flawed male-protagonist comedies with a self-aware edge
People curious about a direct, pop-culture-heavy take on porn addiction and modern dating
Fans of debut films that are messy but ambitious
Audiences who like romantic comedies that drift into drama and moral self-examination
Skip if
You want a subtle or emotionally delicate treatment of sexuality
You’re turned off by crass humor and repeated porn jokes
You prefer fully nuanced characters over satirical types
You dislike movies that feel like a first-film experiment
Overview
Don Jon is a movie with a blunt instrument for a subject and a surprisingly earnest heart. It starts as a swaggering bro comedy about a guy who thinks he has his life under control, then slowly reveals itself as a story about compulsive habits, emotional immaturity, and the gap between fantasy and real intimacy.
Worth noting
Joseph Gordon-Levitt leans hard into the character’s Jersey-guy bravado, which is part of the joke and part of the problem. The film is often funniest when it’s exposing how empty his routines are, and most effective when it lets Julianne Moore complicate the movie’s moral center.
Bottom line
As a debut, it’s uneven and sometimes too on-the-nose, but it has enough confidence, rhythm, and nerve to stay interesting. If you can tolerate its broadness, it’s a smart, watchable little provocation rather than just a raunchy one-note comedy.
Top Letterboxd reviews
David Sims (2★) · 3493 likes
eyyy dis porn addiction's really bustin my cannolis
as (3★) · 2352 likes
Is it bad that I recognized some of the porn in this....?
#1 gizmo fan (2★) · 1598 likes
when brie larson finally spoke and saved the greasy sausage man... cinema was reborn
Karsten (3.5★) · 1046 likes
I really don't care what anyone says, I could watch this movie over and over again and still love it.
john (2.5★) · 991 likes
This was the weirdest way to find out Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn't gay.