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Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza

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Old 02-13-14, 01:25 PM
  #101  
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
This movie had TONS of potential and fell flat for me. It's hard to believe that SJ's character was such a prude and the ending - as others have mentioned - was weak sauce.
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Old 03-29-14, 11:19 PM
  #102  
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
I either didn't get it or the ending wasn't that good It was going along and then it just.... stopped.

Spoiler:
I get the whole it's not about giving giving giving but about making a connection with someone in which you both are wholly into the relationship but it was like the movie ended and I felt... meh.
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Old 03-29-14, 11:58 PM
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
Originally Posted by Mike86
Saw it tonight and thought it was pretty good. I can agree with most people in here though who thought that the first two thirds of the film was better and it got a little shaky at the end. I also sort of had a tough time buying
Spoiler:
him hooking up with Julianne Moore's character. Granted I understood that they were going for it was about the person you're with and that looks and whatnot should be secondary and porn actors and actresses are a bunch of pretty faces and not every girl or guy is going to be a knockout. It just seemed awkward to me and a bit hard to believe that he would have went for someone that much older and frankly not even close to what he was going after before. I would have had an easier time if they went with a more plain yet pretty younger girl I guess.
I also felt like the ending was a bit abrupt. I kind of expected it to go on a bit longer but it just went to credits and that was that. Still overall a decent directorial debut from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I'll probably pick it up on Blu-ray at some point.
I'm not sure the alternative in your spoiler would work. I think her character understood him a way no younger girl would have. Some scenes would have to be rewritten to make it work.
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Old 06-06-14, 04:45 PM
  #104  
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
Caught this on Netflix today in the background while doing some work and I pretty much agree with everyone here. The first 2/3 is really great and the third act is a little off, with an abrupt ending that doesn't quite resolve as much as I think it intended to resolve. Raised some good points about relationships, connection, fantasy, controlling others / self, etc. without necessarily shaming anyone either way. Just kinda said, hey, here's what can happen and think about it, wherever you stand on it. And while yeah, I think Don shouldn't have lied to Barbara,

Spoiler:
What was she doing looking through his browser history? This is the sort of thing that made me think Don's sister, Monica, was spot-on with her Silent Bob analysis. She went looking for trouble in Don, like she wanted a good fixer-upper. Wonder if her real anger was that he wasn't taking to her fixing.


One more thing. There was an odd moment while watching the movie full screen on my second monitor via Netflix. I had just moused over the screen so the Netflix menu bar popped up just when there is a close-up of Don pausing the play button and the menu bar for his video popped up. The movie is dead silent right then, too, so I wondered if I'd accidentally paused the movie. So I when to unpause it, only to pause it for real. Took me a second to figure out what happened.
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Old 06-06-14, 04:55 PM
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
Originally Posted by Brack
I'm not sure the alternative in your spoiler would work. I think her character understood him a way no younger girl would have. Some scenes would have to be rewritten to make it work.
Spoiler:
Well there would have had to have been a character like that written into the film. I don't think it necessarily had to be Julianne Moore's character because of her age and understanding him more. I think the same thing could have been established and would have been more believable if the girl that he wound up falling for was a girl around his age or maybe just slightly (like a few years or so) older than he was and a bit more attractive, but also kind of a plain type.

To me it just didn't make a lot of sense that he would go from wanting essentially knock out type women to the total opposite. Not that Julianne Moore isn't pretty in her own way, but she's a far cry from what he was looking for. I get that the point of it was that love can come in any form when it hits you and that a porn star is a skewed perspective from what a real person will be like but I dunno. That aspect just didn't really work for me.
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Old 06-06-14, 05:12 PM
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
Isn't that sort of the point, though?

Spoiler:
To go from rating women on a hotness scale of 1-10 with meaningless sex to being compelled to engage a woman based on an emotional connection (oh, and bonus, she's beautiful, too) with meaningful sex? Seems like a few steps worth of growth, to me.
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Old 06-06-14, 05:17 PM
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
Originally Posted by story
Isn't that sort of the point, though?

Spoiler:
To go from rating women on a hotness scale of 1-10 with meaningless sex to being compelled to engage a woman based on an emotional connection (oh, and bonus, she's beautiful, too) with meaningful sex? Seems like a few steps worth of growth, to me.
Spoiler:
I guess but still it seemed pretty far fetched to me. Going from wanting only the most attractive women and ending up (probably not permanently but still) with a woman who was pretty much the furthest thing from what he was looking for to me didn't work. Like I said I could have bought it more if she was a little closer in age and a girl that was maybe considered "pretty" or "average" but not "hot".
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Old 06-06-14, 06:21 PM
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
Originally Posted by Mike86
Spoiler:
Well there would have had to have been a character like that written into the film. I don't think it necessarily had to be Julianne Moore's character because of her age and understanding him more. I think the same thing could have been established and would have been more believable if the girl that he wound up falling for was a girl around his age or maybe just slightly (like a few years or so) older than he was and a bit more attractive, but also kind of a plain type.

To me it just didn't make a lot of sense that he would go from wanting essentially knock out type women to the total opposite. Not that Julianne Moore isn't pretty in her own way, but she's a far cry from what he was looking for. I get that the point of it was that love can come in any form when it hits you and that a porn star is a skewed perspective from what a real person will be like but I dunno. That aspect just didn't really work for me.
Spoiler:
Attraction is not a choice.
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Old 06-06-14, 06:29 PM
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Re: Don Jon (2013) D: Gordon-Levitt; S: Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, Danza
Originally Posted by Why So Blu?
Spoiler:
Attraction is not a choice.
I suppose that's a valid point. I still think it's a stretch though. It just seemed forced to me that he would change his perspective on who he found attractive that much by the end of the film.
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