Don Jon  ★★★

JOSEPH Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut from 2013 is an odd little film.

Called Don Jon, as the title suggests it’s about a bloke who considers himself a ladies man.

The difference here is that Jon, played by Gordon-Levitt, is also addicted to pornography and doesn’t believe any sex he has had, is having or will ever have can match up to his frequent solitary experiences.

He bases the sexual experience purely on the act of physical gratification – the pursuit of a woman, how she looks and acts and, well, how good he looks during it.

At the same time, due to his Italian Catholic upbringing, he has this view that to keep sweet with God he just has to confess his acts of fornication and masturbation regularly to the local priest and recite a few enforced Hail Marys, typically while he is watching himself in the mirror doing reps at the gym.

Into his nightclubbing orbit comes another beautiful woman, played by Scarlett Johansson, only she doesn’t fall at his feet so easily. Barbara appears to be on the hunt herself – for an ideal husband – but it’s never entirely clear why she feels the shallow XX is the one.

The film looks like it is meandering along until it takes a narrative turn when he meets another older woman, played by Julianne Moore, at a night education class.

I’ll leave the story there because from this point the film becomes more interesting, less comic and less superficial, which ultimately makes it overall more satisfying.

There’s nothing that particularly stands out in the film-making, but the fact it isn’t the type of movie you see these days is enough to make it stand out from the pack.

Gordon-Levitt is a good, versatile actor who appears capable of handling most roles with aplomb. He’s good here again, but the character is generally bland and unlikable until the third act. Johansson does her best impression of what is euphemistically known as ‘high-maintenance’ or ‘a princess’ but, again, the character is too shallow to really care about.

On the other hand, Julianne Moore gets a lot more out of her under-written character and steals the scene from the two leads. She always does that, though.

Of course it’s full of adult subject matter and visuals, so just be aware.