Review of Don Jon

I hadn't intended to write a review of Don Jon and truthfully it's been a couple of weeks or more since I've seen it my recollections therefore might not be all that fresh.  Ideally I should do the reviews closer to the actual viewing but was lazy on this one and not all that highly motivated, still I do have a few thoughts bubbling in my head which I will attempt to write down.
Don Jon was written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt he's also the titular character thus wearing many hats.  For a first effort the direction is all right, it's not a film which would require a great deal of expertise, there are no big action sequences, not too many actors to direct, the sets are few and the camera is often stationary just panning on people's faces.  The problem lies with the script.  Don Jon is a guy of few words and few interests.  If anyone has seen the previews for this film his interests are easy to list:  His family,his boys,his body,his church and especially HIS PORN.  Emphasis is mine but it's also his as he narrates his interests.  I suppose the film is meant to be somewhat satirical of a certain type of guy who lives in Jersey,is of Italian descent,a practicing Catholic (Sundays only) and loves hanging out with his boys at familiar clubs where he always gets to go home with the choicest piece of ass in the joint while his buddies can only stare and salivate.  The buddies never seem to have any luck in that department and what's even more puzzling is the fact that they don't even resent the DON, they admire him,not even the slightest tinge of envy, his buddies are GOLD.  Back to the satirical idea, satire requires a light touch and razor sharp humor in order to be effective.  Here the satire is too broad to be considered anything but a failure.
Don Jon is not an interesting guy and only uninteresting girls would want to go out with him, I use going out in the most general way since he mostly just beds them although we never actually see them doing it. While the gal is asleep and apparently sated Don Jon stares painfully at the ceiling wishing for a little porn excitement which this latest bout of sexual bliss failed to conjure.  This is the central theme of the movie.  It's the story of a guy who can only connect sexually with his computer, a porn addict who can't really feel unless he's face to face with the manufactured sex provided via the internet.  This is a worthwhile topic, much better explored in another movie called Shame, here it simply feels inert and unreal.  First of all Don Jon tells us that he loses himself in the porn, something which he is unable to do when he's with a live partner even with one as bodacious and sexy as Scarlett Johansson.  We are asked to take him at his word on this but whenever he's at the computer watching porn the camera lingers on his face with no noticeable action taking place below.  There is no movement, no excitement, no tremors, no sweat, his face is just placidly bored, is that what losing yourself should look like, where's the ecstasy of the moment, obviously nowhere to be found.  Furthermore here's a guy sitting on a hard back chair in front of a tiny computer screen spanking his monkey day in day out, countless numbers of times and he's losing himself.....there's just no way. Can one even masturbate that often without incurring severe carpal tunnel injury a question for the ages I suppose.
Don Jon's family is equally boring. A highly plastified Tony Danza serves as the dad, the mom always speaks as though she's on the verge of an hysterical breakdown, the sister is constantly messaging on her phone and during the Sunday dinners they watch football plays on t.v. with the two men wearing "wife beater" white shirts and eating spaghetti, can it get any more stereotypical than that, I think not.
When Don Jon finally learns to connect during sex thanks to a helpful older woman played by Julianne Moore the conversion is sudden and improbable.  He goes from A to Z in a nano second and by then, in any case,  we've lost interest.  Scarlett Johansson is absolutely adorable as the ditsy New Jersey girl chewing gum, wearing tight clothes and expecting certain things from her man none of which include porn watching but do include an instant makeover.  Never having met a New Jersey Italian girl I can only assume that everything about her performance is spot on, it was the highlight of the film for me.
I do like J. Gordon-Levitt generally loved him in 500 Days of Summer, I feel he should stick to romantic losers or winners role, he's also been great in action flicks, simply didn't like him or the subject matter in this one.  One additional thought for a film about a guy addicted to porn the film is incredibly chaste.  The actual sex scenes are not sexy, the only tits and asses to be seen periodically on screen are those from the porn videos, the clips do get extremely tiresome and the objectification of women body parts is complete.