Negative review by Shawn Rosenthal:

As a kid, I always felt worse when my parents were disappointed in me rather than mad. That’s because disappointment implies expectations. Expectations raise the stakes and make flaws more visible. I expected a ton from Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s new film Don Jon, yet found myself extremely disappointed in the final product.

Here’s the story: Pretty-boy Jon, the Don as his friends call him, has a good life. He has a cool car, a nice apartment, a loving family and brings home a different girl every night. What more could a guy ask for? Oh, and he’s addicted to porn. You can guess where it goes from there. He meets the girl of his dreams and couldn’t be happier with his new life, until she catches him feeding his addiction. From there, the film jumps around trying desperately to find a storyline to cling to but to no avail.

In a good film, every character has a well-developed backstory, the plot flows smoothly and in the end the viewer is left satisfied. None of these things took place in Don Jon. I am a big Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan and don’t get me wrong, there were certainly parts of this film that were well executed. But in the end, Gordon-Levitt was way out of his league in his directorial debut. He was too ambitious for his own good and the film was pretty much over before it even began. I expect great things to come from young Gordon-Levitt. Unfortunately, until then, I’m left with a sour taste in my mouth.

Positive review by Silas Valentino:

Fuck yes, Don Jon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt! Way to make a film that gives perspective to an unspoken topic. Men wank it to porn while delusional romantic films bone women and both meet in the middle of a fantasy called love. In essence, Don Jon is about the after effect of what happens when the mirage of predisposed love influenced by media is melted away by reality.

J.G.L. (who has masterfully found the balance between girls wanting to make out with him and men wanting to play FIFA with him) directed, starred and wrote the screenplay.  His directorial debut is close to flawless. The dialogue is smart, candid and mostly believable (even though the conversation toward the end with Julianne Moore’s character about “losing yourself in someone else” was caught between truthful and corny.)

Gordon-Levitt frames the story through a repetitive structure where the protagonist’s (Jon) life is systematically ordered. His structured life brilliantly signified the real-life usage of pornography. Ask anyone about their porn viewing and you’ll see that the film’s structure was spot on. You frequently watch it with a routine: brush your teeth, read an email, access Redtube, YouJizz, etc. … then go to bed. This is catalyzed by Jon’s narrative and lifestyle about the only things he cares about: his ride, his family, his pad and so on. The film’s structure is creative, avant-garde and adds visual flare to the film.

In terms of cinematography, Don Jon scores a few points but does so without saturating the story. The best usage of film science was the cut scene when Jon is about to cum and then it cuts to him later spraying Windex on his bathroom window signifying ejaculation. That cut was a killer and clever way of portraying Jon’s O-face.

Sometimes, a movie’s trailer will set up the film for a game-winning spike and Don Jon’s trailer did just that. Know up front that the movie may not be exactly what you were expecting, yet that doesn’t mean you can’t squeeze one out of Don Jon.