Choke

When Chuck Palahniuk's name is attached to something you know it's going to be something unique, jarring, offensive, probably kind of repugnant. But it will be wildly entertaining and often hilarious. His first novel, "Fight Club," introduced his voice to the world and literature would never be the same. David Fincher's film of the same name...well chances are it shows up very high on your list of all-time favorite movies. Heck, it's my number 2. Several books later, we still only had the one film adaptation. Until now, with the long awaited release of "Choke," adapted and directed by working man actor Clark Gregg.
Victor Mancini (the perfectly cast Sam Rockwell) is an addict, a scam artist, and a lowlife. He also happens to be "the backbone of colonial America," working as a historical re-creationist at a pre-Revolutionary War theme park. His days are full between his job, attending a sex addiction support group with his best friend Denny (Brad William Henke), and visiting his mother (Anjelica Huston) in the hospital.
By night, Victor goes out to restaurants, stuffs too much food down his throat and finds the wealthiest looking person in the room so that they may come to his rescue and save him from choking to death. "You make a friend for life," he tells us. "It makes them feel good... They feel responsible for you." They most certainly do. His saviors send him money, which he then uses to pay his mother's hospital bills.
For his mother and every other elderly woman with Alzheimer's at the Catholic hospital, Victor is someone else, and without trying he helps them work out some issue in their lives that they had buried long ago. Victor doesn't care about any of that though. What he really wants is for his mother to hang on long enough for her to tell him who his father was. His best hope is a young doctor, Paige Marshall (Kelly Macdonald, "No Country For Old Men" and "Trainspotting"), who's willing to go to unconventional lengths to help him. Unlike every other woman he meets, Victor has real feelings for Paige, only complicating matters. Their relationship is odd but befitting of these two characters. When Paige proposes a rather unbelievable possibility as to where Victor really comes from, he starts to wonder if he is such a bad guy after all.
First off, for those of you expecting something the caliber of "Fight Club," don't get your hopes so far into the stratosphere. "Fight Club's" don't grow on trees. This does not mean however that "Choke" is a disappointment. Far from it, it's a very funny look into the life of a man utterly revolting but still strangely likable. I have not actually read the source novel (terrible, I know), but everything about this movie is patently Palahniuk. Gregg does a fine job in his screenwriting and directorial debut. His style doesn't call attention to itself but he paces the film very well and has a few nice cinematic touches that you just can't get on a page.
Between this and his work in "Snow Angels," 2008 is quietly shaping up to be the year of Sam Rockwell. He is an actor of outstanding range (see "Galaxy Quest" and "The Assassination of Jesse James") and he manages to give depth to a seemingly shallow character. The best and worst (of which there are many) qualities of Victor Mancini are put on display and he plays them all pitch perfectly. The supporting cast, including Gregg as a fellow re-creationist who takes his job very seriously, all do fine work, but this is Rockwell's show.
"Choke" is certainly not for everyone, but for fans of Palahniuk, Rockwell, or just stories and characters that are anything but cookie cutter, it is something not to be missed. Now if only Palahniuk's "Survivor" (for my money, an even better novel than "Fight Club") would come to the big screen, then we'd really see something amazing. "Choke" is currently playing in semi-wide release. In the Seattle area it's at the Metro, Meridian 16, and Alderwood Mall. If you don't live near Seattle then that doesn't really help you. 8.5/10.