Movie Review: 'Don Jon' -- 2.5 stars

Don Jon
2.5 stars
Directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore
Rated R

Is it possible to miscast yourself? Based on "Don Jon," in which writer-director Joseph Gordon-Levitt puts his actor self in a role that simply doesn't fit, the answer is yes.

Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut centers on Jon (Gordon-Levitt), a clichéd Italian-American from New Jersey whose priorities are simply stated in the movie's trailer: "my body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls and my porn."

Yes, dear old Jon is addicted to the Internet's most globally-popular attraction, an obsession that gets in the way when it comes to his newfangled relationship with Jersey girl Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), thereby thoroughly disproving Tom Waits' notion that "nothing matters in this whole wide world when you're in love with a Jersey girl."

The film unfolds in a circular rhythm that reflects Jon's hard-worn routine, transitioning from the gym, to the car, to the church, to dark rooms illuminated by the glow of a laptop screen and back again. Gordon-Levitt reveals shifts in the character's perspective by gradually subverting each sequence of the do-loop and weaving in a sad widow (Julianne Moore) who Jon meets when he starts taking night classes.

Gordon-Levitt directs with live-wire energy, packing each moment with an intensity characterized by vociferous theatrics. We get loud dinner table arguments with dad (Tony Danza), pickup scenes in booming clubs, blaring car stereos and characters who can't seem to sit still for an instant. The movie is never boring.

It just doesn't ring true. Gordon-Levitt is essentially posing as machismo-infused Jon, far removed from his familiar sensitive ("500 Days of Summer") or iron-willed ("The Dark Knight Rises") characters. All the pull-ups in the world can't change the fact that his type simply doesn't fit the blue-collar Jersey archetype. This is an outsiders' view of Jon's world, rendered in the broad tones of a sitcom rather than the realistic mode of a movie that understands it.

The film plays like a thesis on the modern condition more than a genuine depiction of a romantic relationship. The screenplay establishes a false dichotomy that forces Jon to choose the real world over the porn world, ignoring the fact that millions across the world have managed to balance an affinity for adult entertainment with a healthy relationship.

Jon learns an important contemporary lesson over the course of the movie, coming to understand that images of sex and relationships fostered by the media and popular entertainment bear little resemblance to the truth. Ironically, that notion applies to "Don Jon" itself.