| Don Jon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Don Jon |
| Genres: | Dramedy |
| Directed by: | Joseph Gordon-Levitt |
| Written by: | Joseph Gordon-Levitt |
| Produced by: | Ram Bergman; Nicolas Chartier; Jeff Franks; Bruce Wayne Gillies; Nikos Karamigios; Ryan Kavanaugh; Tucker Tooley |
| Music by: | Nathan Johnson |
| Cinematography: | Thomas Kloss |
| Edited by: | Lauren Zuckerman |
| Production | |
| Distributed by: | Voltage Pictures HitRecord Films Ram Bergman Productions Relativity Media |
| Released: | September 27th, 2013 |
| Rating: | R |
| Running time: | 90 min. |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $6,000,000 [1][2] |
| Gross: | $24,360,789 [1][2] |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | — |
Don Jon is an American independent feature film of the dramedy genre. It was directed by, written by and stars actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The film was produced by Levitt's company, HitRecord Films, as well as Voltage Pictures and Ram Bergman Productions. It premiered at Sundance in 2013 and went on to enjoy limited theatrical release on September 27th, 2013. In the film, Levitt plays Jon Martello, an Italian-American who is addicted to pornography and has severe intimacy issues. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson as his love-interest, Barbara Sugarman, Julianne Moore as Jon's emotionally tormented classmate, Esther, and Tony Danza as Jon's foul-mouthed father, Jon, Sr.
Plot[]
Meet Jon Martello.
Jon Martello is a twenty-something from northern New Jersey who works in the service industry and prides himself on certain traits that he holds of great value: his friends, his family, his home, his church, and most importantly... his pornography. Incapable of maintaining any kind of a serious relationship, he loses himself in endless hours of masturbation and porno videos that he watches on his computer. He has no fear of intimacy however, and often goes out to dance clubs with his friends Rob and Jeremy looking to find a girl to take home. Even this leaves him unsatisfied however and even after a night of sex, he follows it up with more internet porn to get him through the night.
One evening at the club, Jon meets an attractive blonde-haired woman that he becomes infatuated with. The two dance and make out, but eventually part company. For probably the first time in his life, Jon begins to feel an emotional connection and becomes obsessed with this woman. He tracks her down and finds that her name is Barbara Sugarman. He contacts her and invites her to lunch.
The two begin dating, and Barbara lays down some ground rules, chief among them is: don't ever lie to her. Jon doesn't quite appreciate the same things that Barbara does though. She takes him out to see a romantic movie, but he doesn't get the point of it and thinks that movies are just a waste of time. She wants to continue dating, but insists on adhering to old fashioned traditions, which disappoints Jon slightly, since it involves withholding sex. Despite this however, they make out and grope one another at every possible turn and in some fairly inappropriate places, including an instant where he dry-humps her at the door to her home until he reaches completion.
Martello family meal.
When he visits his family, his time is usually spent at meals where he argues with his foul-mouthed father, Jon, Sr., and placates his mother, who is desperate to see Jon fall in love. Jon's sister, Monica, usually sits at the table, silent, never speaking and constantly looking at her cell phone. John finally grants his mother's wish when he tells her about Barbara, saying that she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in his life.
Meanwhile, Jon attends college classes where he meets an emotionally unbalanced older woman named Esther. Esther develops a strange connection with Jon and he picks up that she is interested in him, but steers clear of her as he is now in a relationship.
Jon and Barbara's relationship develops further. At her insistence, he brings her to his parents house to meet his mother and father. His mother adores her, his father thinks she's hot and his sister could not be less interested.
Jon and Barbara at the gym.
Finally, Jon and Barbara have sex. Although he is more than satisfied and muses over how perfect she is, there is something still incomplete about the experience. He gets up from bed, goes to his laptop and begins watching porn. Barbara comes out of the bedroom and catches him. She is repulsed to see him looking at a porno, and Jon tries to deflect the situation, saying that it was just a joke email that his friend had sent him. Jon blows off the notion that he ever looks at pornography and says that only losers who can't get a real girl need porn.
Something about what he said actually resonates within himself and he tries to shy away from porn. He even tells the priest at confessional that he is no longer masturbating to pornography (which later turns out to be a lie). Fearing that Barbara might catch him again, Jon alternates to "porn on the go" and watches adult clips on his cell phone. He does this while driving and even when he is in class.
Barbara Sugarman
At school, Esther sits next to him and catches Jon looking at dirty movie on his phone. She later gives him a gift, which is a 1970s Danish porno, which she claims is better quality and "more real" than what he has been watching. Jon is put-off by Esther's uncomfortable presence and subtle flirtations and feels the need to remind her that he has a girlfriend.
As with most things, Jon's relationship with Barbara goes south. Barbara takes it upon herself to look at Jon's computer. Scanning his internet history, she finds that he has been watching pornography constantly. She confronts him and is completely disgusted. Most of her anger is over the fact that he has been lying to her. Unwilling to even look him in the eye, she breaks up with him.
Jon returns to the lifestyle of a single man, which his friends can appreciate, since it means they can all go clubbing together again. Jon restrains from immediately telling his family that Barbara left him, knowing how much it would upset his mother.
At school, Esther continues to reach out to him. No longer feeling burdened by a relationship, he strikes up a friendship with her. This venture soon evolves into a bout of meaningless sex in the back of Esther's car, after which, the two smoke a joint together.
Jon and Esther.
Jon and Esther return to her house where he learns the truth behind her aloof behavior. Esther's husband and son had died in a car accident fourteen months earlier. The bond between them strengthens, and Esther helps Jon to realize that he has lose himself in another person in order to experience true intimacy. His failure at this is why he has always garnered more satisfaction from masturbation than from actual human interaction. The two have sex with one another, but something is different about this time for Jon. He feels that he can "lose himself" in Esther and now regards the act of sexual congress as "making love".
Jon eventually tells his parents about the break-up with Barbara, and they are devastated. His mother erupts into a rare explosion of profanity and even his father is taken aback. Sister Monica, finally breaks her silence and looks up from her cell phone long enough to explain that Barbara had an agenda, and was just using Jon to live out a romance movie fantasy.
Having finally come to terms with both himself and his past with Barbara, Jon asks to meet with her again for lunch. Barbara arrives and Jon earnestly, and without an ulterior motive, apologizes for lying to her about the pornography. Barbara says that she asked one thing of him, and he failed to honor it. Jon counters that she had actually asked many things of him, and he could no longer keep up with her expectations. She wanly says goodbye, and tells him to never contact her again.
Jon returns to Esther, and even though he denies that he is in love, he believes that he really understands her, and that they can become lost together in each other.
Cast[]
Principal cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Jon Martello, Jr. |
| Scarlett Johansson | Barbara Sugarman |
| Julianne Moore | Esther |
| Tony Danza | Jon Martello, Sr. |
| Glenne Headly | Angela Martello |
| Brie Larson | Monica Martello |
| Rob Brown | Bobby |
| Jeremy Luke | Danny |
| Paul Ben-Victor | Priest |
| Italia Ricci | Gina |
| Lindsey Broad | Lauren |
| Amanda Perez | Lisa |
| Sarah Dumont | Sequins |
| Sloane Avery | Patricia |
| Loanne Bishop | Barbara's mom |
| Arin Babaian | Bartender |
| Arielle Reitsma | Pink |
| Rizwan Manji | Teacher |
| Eva Mah | Waitress |
| Nina Agdal | Supermodel in commercial |
| Jason Burnham | Promoter |
| Johnny Ferrara | Other driver |
| Tiffany Pulvino | Hostess |
| Olia Voronkova | Russian voices |
| Sonnie Brown | Woman in car |
| Antoinette Kalaj | Feefee |
| Arayna Eison | Beebee |
| Becky O'Donohue | Deedee |
| Elena Kim | Purple |
| Tanya Mityushina | White shorts |
| Craig Marks | Church parishioner |
| Anne Hathaway | Hollywood actress #1 |
| Channing Tatum | Hollywood actor #1 |
| Meagan Good | Hollywood actress #2 |
| Cuba Gooding, Jr. | Hollywood actor #2 |
Uncredited cast[]
Note: The following is taken from the full credits list for this entry on IMDB. As it is a website with user-submitted information, some of the data listed here, including character names may be inaccurate.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Brad Carr | Church goer |
| Maydelle Clarice | College student |
| Cheyne Collins | Porn actor |
| Devon | Porn actress |
| Felicia Dillon | Hot groupie chick |
| Russell Fung | College student |
| Jenny Hendrix | Porn actress |
| Daniel D. Houy | Bookstore patron |
| Sunny Lane | Porn actress |
| Jen Mears | Waitress |
| Mariah Quintana | Princess party hostess |
| Iris Rodriguez | Theater patron |
| Jasper Salon | Club-goer |
| Alyssa Szarkowski | Church patron |
| Alexis Texas | Porn actress |
| Nina Varano | Club girl |
| Marc Wilkinson | College student |
Notes[]
- Don Jon redirects to this page.
- The original full title for this film was Don Jon's Addiction. [3]
- Not to be confused with actor Don Johnson, who does not appear in this film by the way.
- Don Jon was shot on-location in Hackensack, New Jersey. Other scenes, such as the college campus, were filmed in Los Angeles, California. [4]
- Relativity Media acquired U.S. rights to distribute the film for four million dollars following its premiered at Sundance. It committed to a $27 million marketing spend. [5]
- Don Jon was first screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18th, 2013 prior to finding a distributor in Relativity Media.
- The film had to be toned down considerably in order to receive an R-rating.
- Don Jon closed out of theaters on January 9th, 2014. [2]
- At its widest release, Don Jon was screened in 2,422 theaters. [2]
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the founder of HitRecord Films.
- Actress Sonnie Brown is credited as Sonni Brown in this film.
- This is the fifth film produced by Ram Bergman Productions.
- This is the first film produced by HitRecord Films. HitRecord Films was founded by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
- This is the fifteenth feature film produced by Voltage Pictures.
- Members of the American One Voice Coalition decried the film for what it felt was an uncomplimentary stereotyping of Italian-Americans, and that it cast Italians as well as Jews in an American light. It should be noted that there is nothing in the film that overtly denigrates Jewish Americans. There is only reference to Jewish culture and that is when Jon's mother asks if Barbara Sugarman is Jewish upon hearing her name. [6][7]
Fun Facts[]
- Taglines for this film include, "Everyone loves a happy ending" and "There's more to life than a happy ending".
- This movie marks the directorial and screenwriting debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
- The romance movie that Barbara takes Jon to is called Special Someone. The male and female leads in the film are played by Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway.
- Two more celebrity cameos include Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Meagan Good, who also appear as actors in a film.
- The song that Jon is loudly singing along with in his car, and later embarrassed by, is "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
- The porn stars shown in this film, Cheyne Collins, Devon, Jenny Hendrix, Sunny Lane and Alexis Texas, are all actual adult film actors.
- The composer of the film, Nathan Johnson, is the cousin of Rian Johnson. It is important to note that Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are frequent collaborators, with Joseph appearing in most of Rian's films.
- Ryan Lott (then the only member of Son Lux) worked as part of the music department for the film. He co-wrote and performed a song for the film's soundtrack, which was entitled "The Mighty Don". Ryan is a frequent collaborator of Nathan Johnson, with Nathan (as well as his brothers Marke and Zachary) working on several music videos for Son Lux.
Recommendations[]
Dramedy films
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See also[]
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 IMDB; Don Jon (2013); Box office & business
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Box Office Mojo; Don Jon (2013)
- ↑ Starpulse.com; Don Jon (2013); "Joseph Gordon-Levitt Shortens 'Don Jon's Addiction' To Just 'Don Jon'"
- ↑ IMDB; Don Jon (2013); Filming locations
- ↑ Hollywood Reporter; "Joseph Gordon-Levitt's 'Don Jon' Targeted by Italian American Watchdog Group"
- ↑ Starpulse.com; "Joseph Gordon-Levitt's 'Don Jon' Deemed 'Racist' By Italian-American Organization"
- ↑ Hollywood Reporter; "Joseph Gordon-Levitt's 'Don Jon' Targeted by Italian American Watchdog Group"