I don't know about you guys...

I think it was really good and I was even more impressed at the end when I noticed Joseph Gordon Hewitt also wrote and directed it! Very well done for a first effort!

completely agree.

Agreed, a true masterpiece. I heard that some people didn't like this movie. Just saw it today and I have to say, was one of the best films I've seen. Maybe it's more of a 'guy' movie. I grew up in Brooklyn NY and they got the accents and the language almost perfect. I've also been in similar situation where I'm dating a hot girl who is unbearably controlling and manipulative but I stay with her because she is so hot. Her making odd and selfish demands - been there, done that lol
Anyway, awesome movie, 9 0f 10 stars.

I thought this movie was amazing and I'm glad it was indie and not Hollywood-fied.

People here (and even just mainstream watchers) don't get it because it's a pretty layered commentary of sex positivity that's probably over a lot of people's heads. This is a deeper message than I've EVER received from a movie.

Movies typically end up with either a sexually-liberated woman going into a monogamous relationship after "finding the one" or she's just punished in some way. This was different, and showed a guy "getting it" thanks to a woman who knew the kind of sex he was missing.

Amazing.

"MALLL NOOO, JESUS CHRIST!" - Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception

Jerentotten2,

This film is not a masterpiece. If you've arrived at this conclusion, you've been smoking something that perhaps you should be sharing a bit more with the rest of the readers who participate in these IMDB forums.

This film does address an important topic. Addiction to pornography. I commend Gordon-Levitt for tackling this subject. It's important and deserves much more attention given how pornography is still denigrated overall as an activity in American culture. Having said that, this film fell short in a number of ways.

1) No connection or feeling for the main character. I couldn't relate to the New Jersey working class characterization at all. I also didn't like Don, the womanizer and "player," so even if by the end of the movie he's redeemed himself, it's too little, too late and I didn't really care.

2) When you consider who watches porn, I include myself, for example, it is people who are both lustful and peaked by the fantasy that pornography provides. There are many types of people who watch porn. But when I think of those people who do watch porn with any regularity, the character of Don Jon just doesn't materialize in my mind. I think of the people who don't get laid very often. The ones who are shy, have trouble connecting with women, get frustrated with women, even have some hostility towards women (because of numerous rejections) and overall, just can't stand the fickleness of women. Dating proves very difficult. And you don't just go to a dance club and expect to pick up a woman. That's for the movies. And while I know there are guys who excel at picking up women at nightclubs, I would bet hands down there are more men who prove to be lousy at picking up women at nightclubs. This is why I didn't relate to Don's character at all and frankly, for someone who was able to get laid as often as he did, his addiction to porn didn't come across as problematic as Gordon Levitt wanted it to be.

3) I don't like narration in movies. I just don't. When the main character has to use a voice over to tell you his thoughts, explain to you his story, it just defeats the purpose of movie making. There are a few films in the large canon of cinematography that have used narration effectively but overall, it's a failure right from the start. I truly was expecting this film to present Don, not from within his mind, but outside of it, where the viewer just watches what he's doing and witnesses his rise and fall and rise again without needing to know what his mind is thinking. Just my opinion, of course. But I don't think the narration worked well.

4) I do agree with Gordon's character that people who do watch porn do want to experience something akin to porn in their sex life, or at least have one experience that comes as close as possible to approximating a "porn experience." Getting lost in porn is about believing you could see yourself in a porn like situation and receiving immense gratification from it. The trouble is, of course, how do you know if you are truly having a porn experience? Is having sex with more than one woman a porn experience? Is cumming on a woman's face a porn experience? Or cumming on her ass? Pornography, like sex in general, seems to be at its most exciting to those who are watching it for the very first time as opposed to those who have watched porn for years and rarely see much that's new or exciting.

In conclusion, Gordon made a brave attempt at capturing what it means to be porn-addicted but I think a better film lies in the offing down the road if someone wants to take it up. We need more cinema having to do with the purpose and function that pornography plays in our culture. It generates millions in revenue for those who profit off of it and is a major industry. We need more cinema that explores the complexities of pornography and how it is treated by the mainstream at large.

It was much better than I expected it would be.

Loved it. I gave it a 10 here.

Bold, honest, brave and funny.

The other poster who made the long comments about how this movies was not a masterpiece is obviously taking the film a little too seriously.

Yes, this movie is about his addiction to porn and his unrealistic expectations set by those standards, but more to the point, it's about Jon learning that the real feeling of getting "lost" as he puts it in the movie, is when he finally learns that it has to be a 2-way thing (a connection) as compared to what he got from just watching porn.

The fact that the poster couldn't enjoy the movie just because he couldn't relate to/believe JGL's character is also ridiculous. Just because Jon could pick up girls, doesn't mean that he can't be addicted to porn as well. It'd be stereotyping to think that only men who can't get dates easily watch/get addicted to it.

Lastly, if the movie was shot in the way the other poster suggested, then it'd be like watching a documentary about the porn industry and it's effects on society and that's not what this movie is about.

I love it too. I think this is the number one film that both men and women should watch if they have relationship problems or unrealistic expectations in relationships. Every couple should definitely watch this film. It was very realistic and it showed the faults with both sides. The message was a really good one and it should really be helpful to a lot of people, especially in this age where there's such a wall between us and the others. Either if it was about women objectifying men, making men change or do things for them instead of getting to know the real person and accept them or like them for who they are, and have an interest in them (which was really *beep* of Barbara), or for men objectifying women by giving them numbers on how hot they are, or having expectations that sex will be as wild as in porn, or the expectations that the church and the priests actually give a *beep* about you, your sins, or what you're going through, the movie was spot on. Men can probably see themselves in the competition they have to score the most hottest chicks, and how it's better to actually have a good time together and enjoy a pizza at the end, and actually take an interest in each other. Women would probably have a realization of how *beep* up it is to want to change your man so that your girlfriends can rate him as a good score. Even mothers of young boys or girls who project their desires onto their children to get married and give them grandkids (my mum does that with me all the time) should get a lesson from this, that it's not about them, and they should lay off. It's all about treating people as real people, and making an actual connection.