Choke

I don't recall exactly how long ago it was when I read the book on which this movie is based. I also don't vividly recall the details of the book because I remember not loving it. I remember thinking the book fell apart in the final act, which is fairly common for books by Chuck Palahnuik, in my opinion. Of course, I am a hardcore believer in separating the source material from the movie. I think each has to be judged on their own merits. I was curious to see this movie mostly because it was written and directed by a first timer(Clark Gregg) whose day job is to be an actor. (I know him from Aaron Sorkin t.v. shows, but he was in Ironman this summer) I was curious how a first timer would handle such an odd movie topic. Would he be fresh and exciting, or would it overwhelm him?

Victor Mancini(Sam Rockwell) is a despicable kind of human being. He is a sex addict who cuts out of Sex addict anonymous meetings to have sex. In order to make extra money he goes to restaurants and pretends to choke on food and when someone saves him, the savior feels responsible for him and sends him money every year. In his day job, he is a performer in a reenactment of a old style village. He lives for the orgasm because it is the one moment of life where he feels nothing at all. He thinks it is bliss. He has sex with every female that walks. His best friend, Denny(Brad William Henke) is addicted to masturbation and together they live miserable lives. In his free time, Victor goes to visit his mother(Angelica Houston) who is living in a facility for sick old women and doesn't know Victor is Victor. She always thinks he is a lawyer or some other random person. In a series of flashbacks, we see that Victor and his mom had a rough relationship and he was in and out of Foster care because his mother was getting arrested all of the time. Victor is dying to know who his father is and finds her diary to figure it out. Victor gets close to a doctor on staff, Paige Marshall(Kelly McDonald)and he wants to have sex with her, but he cannot get it up for her. He thinks it means he is falling in love with her. Victor cannot read the diary because it is in Italian, but Dr. Marshall can read Italian and finds out that Victor may be a direct spawn of Jesus Christ himself.

In the movie sounds absolutely absurd it is. I didn't even mention the friend falling in love with a stripper and collecting rocks to beat his masturbation addiction. There is an interesting twist towards the end of the film that shakes things up but, to be honest I was expecting or hoping for more from Choke. It has all the elements but something was missing in the execution. It can be hilarious (any scene involving their day job at the village) and it can be serious, (Victor with his mother) but there is a disconnect somewhere for me. I wanted to love the movie and I only ended up liking it okay. It only runs 95 minutes long, but I was so sure it was about 2 hrs long when it was over. It just lags, especially in the flashbacks, which needed to be a lot more interesting considering how time we spend watching them.

That being said, Sam Rockwell is just phenomenal as Victor. He seems to have been born to play the part of the sexually immature character. He is smooth and fast talking and just the right amount of damaged for us to believe him in every moment. He comes off as vulnerable in the right moments and while I think the character is loathsome, he made it all partly endearing in moments. Houston does a great job as the senile mother, but I wish she had been given more to do with the flashbacks, instead of standard mean mother type stuff. Clark Gregg also playing the part of the lord of the old village provides some of the best laughs in the movie, hands down.

There are certainly interesting aspects to the story in regards to why Victor is the way he is. He believes if he just finds his father he will know why he is emotionally stunted. He thinks all of his problems could disappear if he knew why. Instead of actively working at changing, like his friend, Victor's quest to find out this information just makes the whole thing worse. His constant need for sex destroys his humanity, but in his mind it is the only thing that keeps him grounded. The script does a fairly good job at representing that, although I had hoped it would have a bit more bite to it.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to many people, except to watch Rockwell totally own the character and movie and maybe to anyone who likes to watch quick 5 second flashes of sex in the movies because this is full of those. Choke has flashes of great material, but it wanders around for far too long a time to make use of the great stuff it has.

Final Grade: B-