Review of Choke (2008) by Lasse C — 13 Oct 2009

This is one of the most underappreciated films of 2008. I read this book a long time ago and it was one of the only Chuck Palahniuk novels I actually enjoyed. But, after reading it, I felt that there was absolutely no way that it could be made into a movie. After it came out I had to wait 3 weeks for a low-key theater near me to get it, I went to the very first showing and there were about 12 other people in there (all by our selves) and everyone was cracking up uncontrollably, which made it one of the best theater experiences I ever had.

Any time a book is made into a movie it gets completely picked apart by critics who use their own literary interpretations of the book to establish expectations from the movie that are entirely biased. This is complete bullshit. Directors need the freedom to step back from a book so they make their own films, otherwise we might as well just be watching the Sarah Plain and Tall chronicles on the Hallmark channel.

Choke was pure entertainment backed by a great cast. Sam Rockwell does a great job at becoming this main character who is just a total narcissistic punk. He uses sex and denial to avoid the pain of being forced to deal with a reality that is out of his control. This film has clever dialogue to help make it a brilliant dark-comedy and I give a lot of props to this production team for doing what everyone said couldn?t be done.