DON JON, the first film authored by the hyphenate Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Seems to be channeling Wahlberg as much as The Situation here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU2tyQ1_k8s

r u excited morbz

I'm certainly happy for Tony Danza.

ScarJo seems to be a really convincing mall betty.

Seems to be channeling Wahlberg

By way of literally rapping along with Wahlberg.

Solid trailer. Obviously a hunk of "Saturday Night Fever" in there. too.

I didn't even think about whose lousy record that was.

It can be interesting to see actors try to play dull-witted without winking.

It can be interesting seeing JGL's bare torso without wanking.

so basically it's a movie based on The Situation featuring SJ as Marissa Tomei from My Cousin Vinny.

MOVIES ARE DIFFRENT THEY GIVE AWAHDS FUH MOVIES

this looks fucking terrible what the hell is wrong with all of you

c'mon, how is that not funny dialogue you just quoted, sourball?

it just sounds exactly like the kind of line someone with a 2D, condescending view of eye-talians would write for an eye-talian character, and she plays it like that, gum-chewing and all. I mean the dude and his dad at dinner BOTH in wife-beaters.

Like what is this weird moll schtick she's doing and what does it have to do with any actual real person living in the 2010s?

xp And thank god for that.

(But no really, the movie looks as terrible as Only God Forgives looks to everyone else.)

Guys Who Hate Comedy

YO IT'S COOL DAWG I'M JUST YO CHILL BLACK FRIEND. OHHHH SHIT, SHE FINE!

Like Only God Forgives isn't hysterical.

what does it have to do with any actual real person living in the 2010

well clearly my friend you have never been to north providence, rhode island

or northern NJ

I lived, worked and went to school in Northern and Central NJ for a total of ten years.

And that's Rutgers, not Princeton, so I went to school with plenty eye-talian kids from the shore and every other part of the state.

so really, SJ seems off to you??

SJ doesn't seem like a person in that trailer, she just seems like a collection of mannerisms.

...

she got good reviews on Broadway playing a Brooklyn Italian girl in A View from the Bridge, so I assume she's using the same accent.

IDK, I'm a little cranky from lack of sleep. I never think ScarJo is good in anything though, even though she is otherwise the most attractive woman in Hollywood. And also I'm very protective of Jersey.

And something about this movie just feels like it's designed to give people exactly what they've come to expect and want from working-class italian characters -- some sort of imagined "realness," no-bullshit attitude, familial warmth, etc. It's like this is becoming the new version of the quaint irish village with silly old men movie.

Also his muscles are way too small for the type of dude he's supposed to be.

her character doesn't have an italian name, fwiw, and the movie is actually about the effects of porn on sexual relationships which seems relevanto to 2010s, imo

you would be a terrible homosexual

xp

If you hire Tony Danza, wouldn't you want Katherine Helmond too? Or is she dead?

SJ doesn't seem like a person in that trailer, she just seems like a collection of mannerisms.

― PJ. Turquoise dealer. Chatroulette addict. Andersonville. (Hurting 2)

when hasn't she?

Ghost World?

a ghost all right

hurting are you arguing that these character types DON'T exist? or that these characters DO exist but the trailer gets them wrong?

Sure they exist, but they usually have personalities.

perhaps some will emerge in the other 98 minutes of the film

*watches 2 minute trailer* THIS IS GARBAGE, WHERE IS THE CHARACTER DEPTH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYiz9AoSpNA

saw the preview for this in the theater, looks weird in a terrible way, also i feel like scarjo has already done the trashy jersey girl thing, maybe just on SNL?

also it was totally unclear when this is supposed to take place - it seems like early '90s ("good vibrations" etc) but also he's looking at internet porn

I think the idea of a movie about a guy trying to give up porn for a girl is not a totally terrible idea, but sounds more like something that a Judd Apatow movie should cover.

who should've been cast as Anthony Weiner?

also surely there are gu*dos who are 5'6"?

I thought they all were!

I think he means JGL should look like he's eaten every steroid in the world

yeah I thought his arms looked small for a supposed jersey guido gym rat. Do you even lift bro?

Agreed. He needs to actually have pushed it to the point of looking bad, and he stopped shy of that.

Probably not willing to sacrifice his gonadal health on the altar of his directorial debut.

also, he looks like he lifts, bro.

Zacharek raves.... maybe you just have to love JGL and hate Italians.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-09-25/film/don-jon/

Julianne Moore is prized by the straights, too, damn it

Rene Rodriguez's weekend feature:

For his 21st birthday, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt bought himself a copy of Final Cut Pro, the revolutionary software that allowed anyone with a digital camera and a bit of computer savvy to turn their home movies into polished films.

“I’ve probably made hundreds of little videos since then,” says the actor, now 32. “I would shoot little movies with me in them, put them on my computer, edit them and put music to them. I was just doing it for myself, and I had so much fun. But I also learned a lot. If it hadn’t been for all of those videos, I wouldn’t have been able to make Don Jon the way I did.”

One of the most impressive things about Don Jon, the first feature film Gordon-Levitt wrote and directed, is how stylistically ambitious it is. The ingenious editing, sound effects, music and camera placements fly against the traditional emphasis on performance most actors-turned-directors use their first time out. The success of Don Jon, which opens Friday, ultimately rests on the strengths of its cast, but the movie also has the craft and technique of a veteran filmmaker’s work.

Most importantly, Gordon-Levitt uses all the toys in his tool chest not to show off, but to underscore the emotional journey of Jon, an online-porn addict and gym rat who tries to go clean after he meets Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), a beautiful young woman whose idea of true love is defined by Titanic and film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels.

“Style is not about having cool shots,” he says. “It’s about drawing the audience closer to the story you’re telling and accentuating the evolution of your characters. That to me is the mark of a good filmmaker.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/25/3650084/joseph-gordon-levitts-don-jon.html#storylink=cpy

James Wolcott wrote a feature about 10 years ago complaining about how terribly new actors moved in character. It's true: JGL is an exception.

A friend who went to last week's screening said ScarJo's accent was most convincing.

The ingenious editing, sound effects, music and camera placements fly against the traditional emphasis on performance most actors-turned-directors use their first time out.

really? this is, in my experience, the hallmark and big problem with first time films from actors.

really? this is, in my experience, the hallmark and big problem with first time films from actorseveryone.

You just want filmed plays with the camera nailed down, is that it?

I love how the poster crops out his haircut in favor of the almighty dimples.

eh this was pretty simpleminded. cute though.

yeah its a sitcom. it's okay. there's a few startlingly real moments w/julianne moore near the end that dont fit in with the rest of it... kinda makes u picture the movie jlg could've made. also brie larsen is the shit. shes definitely my favorite actor under 30

is JGL nude in it

i cant remember. he shows off his bare torso a fair amount anyway.

i will see this when i am sufficiently hungry for ass

didn't really believe that in 2013 a) a reasonably with-it woman, even if written as controlling and bitchy, would be so mortally aggrieved by a straight bro's porn viewing, or b) a straight bro porn viewer, even if written as a dim guido, doesn't know how browser histories work

though it did make for one good gag: the misunderstood double meaning of a girlfriend shrieking IT'S IN YA HISTORY. IT'S IN YA HISTORY.

I know a few women who would be mortally aggrieved by a boyfriend's porn viewing.

now I've gotta see this

also, yeah, there are definitely people who are not as accepting of casual (let alone obsessive) porn consumption within a relationship

i bought a), b more of a contrivance. scarjo was awesome btw.

who gives a shit about browser histories unless it's at work and somebody is looking over your shoulder

saw this yesterday. its basically JGL saying 'porn is bad!' and 'technology is bad! have you noticed?!' for an hour and a half. but i liked it.

i found it a little grating that its so obvious what its doing all the time. this is a film with net to no subtext - the subtlety is sledgehammer-like. i found it weird that for a film objecting to overt female sexualisation, its constantly poring over scarlet johannsen's body.

also found its obvious appeal to 'the man on the street' a little too obvious (though OTOH, average working class families dont appear much in modern hollywood anymore, unless we're talking the poorer sister in blue jasmine, which is a parallel for the family in don jon for being seemingly conjured up from watching a dozen 80s/90s italian-american-centred movies).

the whole film seemed to want to say (and JGL's character actually did say this at one point) 'hey porn isnt just for ugly dweebs' as if to hammer home its point that porn is hurting everyone but its a tad hard to have sympathy for someone whos going home with attractive women every day of the week. this was basically like shame or that other recent sex addiction movie with gwyneth paltrow - it wants to explore something sexually thorny and problematic but doesnt really want to explore it at anything other than a pretty comfortable level. still, i give it some credit for trying.

that said, i did like that SJ's character was so anti-porn. made a difference from it being casualised, even if her character was the 'beautiful woman' sterotype: sexually conservative/a bitch/unwilling to bend/narcissistic.

not read the whole thread so i might be rehashing but tbh, i think i would have liked the depiction of working class italians more if it didnt seem like the film wanted to show how dumb/cruel/superficial that kind of family can be while using them to appeal to everyone and show porn addiction isnt just some rich guy problem.

did you end up seeing this, morbs?

astonished by the lyrical praise the nyt is spoonfeeding jgl above, this film was directed like a car commercial

prejudices of hurting ii so otm itt

is this like the comedy version of Shame?

Yessss

Mark Wahlberg in the lead, Will Farrell as therapist...

Yesss this is a great idea, that is.

prejudices of hurting ii so otm itt

― mustread guy (schlump), Saturday, January 11, 2014 3:13 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol, when I saw this thread bumped I was actually thinking "Hmm, maybe I got a little carried away, maybe it's not so bad."

i can't remember if i saw this or not...

feel like i did though :(

saw this and thought it was dumb and manipulative. pretty sure meatheads like Levitt's character don't suddenly stop objectifying women simply because they screw an older lady in night class.

whoa man why dont u walk in his shoes for a while

no, i haven't yet seen it. lotta films out there.

i saw this the other day and yeah, i didn't think the JGL character's supposed epiphany was very well executed

johansson was great tho

Nothing wrong with tha characters or the acting. Script needed work, a lot of work.

the whole "chick-flick romances are just as much of an illusory narcotic as p0rn" angle was intriguing but dealt with hastily

also amused/underwhelmed by the 'reveal' that ScarJo was a villain thru her bristling at Don Jon CLEANING his apartment.

i don't know that acting/characters/story can really be tidily separated when you're dealing with something as just deeply, reflexively tired & tiring as the home-life portions of this film; don jons jr and sr trading EY YOU GIBRONI DIDJA SEE THE JIBRONIS ON THAT kind of shit, just this awful minstrel show of working class. joseph gordon levitt inhabiting the asshole-smirk at clubs. working class communities in film are dealt with well by like three english language directors & i feel like the sorta satisfying porn-morals denouement of this doesn't make its handling of subcultures any less lazy or indulgent.

i was just into scar-jo dry humping him to take a night class, that was good.

porn = chick-flicks seems kind of like a lazy and inapt comparison too. I've never heard of women binging on chick-flicks or compulsively clicking one rom com clip after another for hours.

Maybe "shopping" would be a better stereotypical female activity to compare.

i think they're more comparable in damage to IRL expectations, not hours invested.

Actors who direct get more praise than they deserve because they know what a camera is and how to look good in front of it.

I wanted to like it, and ScarJo finally looks alive on screen, and it'ss 90 minutes, but it devolves into a familiar Hollywood yarn about A Man Who Can’t Love. "Why watch porn when you can have the real thing?" "What can you get from porn that you don’t get from sex?”

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1592972!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/scarjo28f-3-web.jpg
"Why drink Dr. Pepper when you can have the real thing?"

Julianne Moore kinda wandered in from the non-didactic, screwball comedy version (the widow stuff aside) that i would rather have seen.

also the repeated shot of him walking into the gym was nice. Confessions needed a better payoff tho.

chick-flicks seems kind of like a lazy and inapt comparison too. I've never heard of women binging on chick-flicks or compulsively clicking one rom com clip after another for hours.

you have never heard of girl weekends, where they watch 3 or 4 in a row. ;) (ok maybe they'll just watch a zillion episodes of Girls... or Friends.)

i thought Julianne Moore was funny on a meta-level (Boogie Nights, and more specifically The Kids Are Alright)
like she's the old woman who knows about TRUE SEX
i kinda disliked she had this trauma though. also no one is truely communicating, and there are not enough snappy dialogues. (maybe, none)

i apologize for using the word old there, but it was in the spirit of the douchebags in the movie

Julianne Moore is very slightly older than I am, so I'm theoretically fine with her being his sexual savior, but it didn't work

I didn't really think JGL was gay until he cast Julianne Moore as the ideal sex partner.

can't get over this quote from eric h.

Thought this was all over the map - apparently the entire plot takes place in the final 15 minutes. Also, inverting the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope to a Manic Damaged Dream Older Woman trope is still a trope.

Didn't dislike it, but felt like it needed far more of an edge to it.

this film was directed like a car commercial

not nearly that good

has some truly awful buzzwordy filler dialogue scenes, oh u don't know abt SWIFFERS or TIVO??

This had its charms but I won't defend anything people have criticized up thread. StillAdvance wrote, for a film objecting to overt female sexualisation, its constantly poring over scarlet johannsen's body

I think this was an intentional and rather subtle way to connect her to...let's call it the porn-industrial-complex...that self-serving "one-sided" or instrumentalist view of relationships (porn vs romance movies and both against "real" intimacy). what's interesting about all that is that it suggests that porn is simply the logical end point of her worldview and even the (supplemental, excluded) thing that made him seem like the perfect guy! so long as he kept it hidden.

Finally watched this. Far more enjoyable (and less homophobic) than Shame, but much of this ground was already covered in a far more probing and challenging (and less cutesy) manner 40 years prior in Carnal Knowledge.

It was fun to see Tony Danza and Glenne Headly again, though. And JGL clearly devoted a lot of time towards developing a gym bod for this film, as he never missed an opportunity to show it off (not a complaint).

Not sure which JGL thread this should go in, but ... not the prettiest of women.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPWs1QkK9k8