At the start of this movie, I honestly thought I was not going to enjoy this.

It seemed tacky, predictable and as if Joseph Gordon Levitt was trying too hard to be shocking or “real” with the content.

I began to try to guess where the plot and the characters were going to go.

I was certain I had this movie figured out within the first 15 minutes.

But I didn’t. I expected this movie to be ridiculous and while it was ridiculous, it was also a very true movie.

It was ridiculous because the characters were obviously meant to be caricatures of themselves.

It was a satire about the way society objectifies women, and how pornography gives unrealistic expectations about what relationships and sex really is.

It was true, because well, that is exactly what society and pornography does.

In the movie, Levitt’s character Jon is a total womanizing, porn addict.

No matter how many women he brings home, he can’t fight his addiction to porn.

He loves it more than the women themselves.

Jon sees them as things that should be able to give him what he wants.

He is so unsatisfied with actual women because his expectations are skewed. Why can’t these women be like the women in his porn?

Although he does realize that he would rather have true love than the continual one night stands, it is one-sided love.

He then meets a woman with a similar perspective of a relationship who immediately tries to change him to be who she thinks he should be.

Jon has many redeeming qualities such as being dedicated to his family, friends, church and cleaning.

But that meant nothing to her unless it was making her happy.

Jon is confused about it because she is a total “10.”

Just because a woman, or a man, is a “10” on the outside doesn’t mean that he or she is a “10” on the inside.

He expected her to be the perfect woman because she looks like the perfect woman, and he viewed life from a very shallow perspective.

Jon then meets another woman who helps him realize that he going about relationships all wrong and that porn is giving him unrealistic expectations of what intimacy is.

This movie’s message is about separating fantasy from reality, appreciating other people for who they are and learning how to achieve happiness through selflessness.

That is a lesson that many young adults unfortunately haven’t learned and Levitt’s great directorial debut showed that sometimes it just won’t happen with some of them.

But if others can keep an open mind to life and the different types of people within it,  then they can begin taking steps towards true happiness.