We Don't Walk Slow

Don Jon on Howard Stern

The movie Don Jon is written and directed by Joseph Gordon Levitt and he was interviewed on the Howard Stern show today. The interview went for about 45 minutes and Levitt came off as a genuinely likeable guy. He was there to promote the movie Don Jon which took him 5 years to get onto the big screen. It stars Gordon Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, and Tony Danza. It’s about a bro, who resembles the my new haircut or Dom Mazzetti type guy, and he has some issues balancing life and a porn addiction. It’s hard to say how much the porn addiction comes into play but they are running clips for it during pornhub videos so I assume they know their target audience. The ad is pretty funny when it shows Don Jon spanking it and the camera zooms to a male pornstar’s face and the thought process that takes place. Levitt tries to appeal to both male and females because the counter part of the movie is that Scarlett is addicted to romantic comedies and I assume she expects real life to be as it is in a movie. The movie received a 7.5 on IMDB and is set to hit theaters on 9/27/13.

That’s the brief write up of the movie but I thought the interview was well done by Howard as usual. You could tell that Levitt was really gracious and couldn’t stop saying how thankful he was when Howard said he liked the movie. Howard’s generally not a dick to big named guests so whether he was being genuine or not was tough to tell but I think he was. The interview touched on Levitt as a child actor in 3rd Rock From the Sun to some indie films he did to making it big with Inception, Lincoln and The Dark Knight Rises. Levitt went into his time on set with Spielberg and Daniel Day Lewis on Lincoln and that was a good story. He described Daniel Day Lewis as never leaving character during the movie filming which I thought was funny and Spielberg having an uncanny ability of catching the right energy and moment with the camera. Levitt wouldn’t discuss his personal life which I thought was admirable although doesn’t make for the best interview. Howard knows this. Overall though I could see how Levitt could develop some dick head qualities being a child actor and probably feeling entitled to the world but that wasn’t the case at all. He seemed like a hard working guy who did a good job of moving up the ranks. It was also revealed that he smokes more weed that you’d think.

50/50

Instead of writing about a part of the movie ala here, I’m going to give my thoughts on it. 93 on rotten tomatoes and Sam’s recommendation slotted the movie 50/50 in my life. My general overview was that is was well scripted, contained good acting, and was a poignant movie. There were multiple times that I can say I was almost brought to tears. A movie that brings that type of emotion can never be bad. I thought the viewers ability to develop empathy for the characters involved throughout this movie enhanced an already great picture. I’m going to break it down a bit further with varying thoughts I had throughout.

The acting was phenomenal by Joseph-Gordon Levitt specifically. A good actor is one who plays the part so it appears natural. He absolutely nailed the emotional range of his character and condition. The sadness, the dealing with cancer, the anger, just everything about his character seemed legit. Seth Rogen is completely genius but for a completely different reason. He acts like a real person in real life when he acts in the movie. He’s not like goofball Adam Sandler funny, he’s like real 2012 how people act funny. The jokes in the movie are hilarious (see below), and Rogen provides comic relief for such a serious movie while still feeling like a serious best friend. My favorite was the first joke below for such reasons. I recognized Anna Kendrick from Twilight (just kidding…no I’m not) and at first I thought she was sort of ditzy and dumb but she really did a tremendous job transforming from therapist (following procedure) to a genuine person (expressing herself). Plus I sort of crush on her and just liked the character (her) in general. The mom plot line was perfectly structured and I didn’t really see the need for the Dad but I probably missed something. Fantastic cast though that wasn’t overly complicated and each served their unique purpose.

Here are a few random things I thought about in the movie:
– When Adam and Kyle are sitting on the bench towards the end, I started thinking about what you’d even talk about to someone who was close to you and about to die. The “it’s going to be ok” act is phony so it’s just a complete build up emotionally of really not knowing what to say. Remembering good times and just expressing friendship and how close human relationships can become seems about right though. If it was someone close I think I’d say “I’m so happy to have met you on this Earth.”
– I really liked when the one patient didn’t come back and Adam asked the other guy “what happened”, and the response was “what does it matter, his heart stopped beating.” That really put things in perspective of how one day you can be here and the next is never guaranteed.
– I didn’t really touch on the Adam/Rachael relationship. Like the rest of the movie, Rachael seemed real to me. Scared of the sickness, not willing to commit but not going to abandon her boyfriend who just got cancer. I liked how she tried to get back with him because I think it’s so typical in relationships and Adam saying “get the fuck off my porch” was a great line.
– I think the movie also shows how one person can effect so many peoples lives. Let’s just say he died, his Mom would be all alone. Seth Rogen lost his best friend. And the therapist is constantly thinking of what could have been if he lived. Dying is permanent and as a human you don’t really think about it like that. It’s just something off in the distance. The world keeps on turning.
– If you read the last point, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that smoking cigarettes is one of the most selfish acts a person can take part of. You are knowingly expediting the process of death. A big fuck you to everyone around you. Now this reasoning can obviously translate to saying anything that is risky or damaging is selfish. Don’t take this one too seriously.

I don’t usually write this much about movies but good movies are ones that touch emotions and leave you thinking. I’d honestly be curious what people think about my take on this movie and if you had any other thoughts about it. Over – under 2 real comments that don’t include Sam? I’m hoping the over on this one.

Some of the better jokes from the movie:
Kyle: I fucking nailed that cunt! Can you believe that?
Claire: Oh, God!
[disgusted at his swearing, Claire walks away from Kyle and he follows behind her]
Kyle: I don’t usually say that.

Kyle: Has she been sucking on your dick, been giving you blow jobs?
Adam: No. She doesn’t like to.
Kyle: She does…No fucking shit she doesn’t like to! Who likes putting dicks in their mouth? You do it cause that’s why they call it blow jobs! It’s a job!

Adam: You just always hate my girlfriends.
Kyle: That’s not true. Okay, it is actually. But it’s because you always date people who are fucking dickheads, man. You date needy bitches. Why?