Review of Choke (2008) by Stewart G — 30 Jan 2010

In "Choke," Victor Mancini(Sam Rockwell) is a sex addict.(Hi Victor!) He attends meetings with his friend Denny(Brad William Henke). Together, they work as historical reenactors at a theme park.(I will never look at these people the same way again.) Victor took the job after having to drop out of medical school to care for his mother Ida(Anjelica Huston) once she started to suffer from dementia and had to be committed to the crazy old woman's home where Victor is immensely popular. As hopeless as Ida's case may look, her doctor Paige(Kelly Macdonald) has a longshot idea she would like to play.

As amusing and darkly comic as "Choke" is, I was waiting for it to kick into high gear which it never quite does. And all of its narrative strands never come together, either, which is a shame when you consider how provocative it could have been about religion. Plus, there is an awkward sequence it definitely could have lived without.

Like "Fight Club," also an adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel, "Choke" starts out at recovery meetings where lonely people come together in their desperation. Unlike the former, "Choke" takes on a sentimental aura as Victor struggles to find the love that was denied to him by his mother as a young child by now having sex with lots and lots of strange women and his choking scam that that gets him love from strangers who think they have just saved his life. Regardless, I did like the film's final message.