Plot
A sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.

Release Year: 2008

Rating: 6.6/10 (18,933 voted)

Critic's Score: 47/100

Director: Clark Gregg

Stars: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald

Storyline
Sex addict and colonial theme park worker, Victor Mancini, has devised a complicated scam to pay for his mom's hospital bills while she suffers from an Alzheimer's disease that hides the truth about his childhood. He pretends to choke on food in a restaurant and the person who "saves" him will feel responsible for Victor for the rest of their lives.

Writers: Clark Gregg, Chuck Palahniuk

Cast:
Kathryn Alexander - Mousy Girl / Agnes
Teodorina Bello - Jamaican Lady
Kate Blumberg - Edwin's Wife
Jonah Bobo - Young Victor
Willi Burke - Deranged Socialite (as Wilma 'Willi' Burke)
Heather Burns - Internet Date / Gwen
David Fonteno - Edwin
Matt Gerald - Detective Ryan
Clark Gregg - Lord High Charlie
Joel Grey - Phil
Viola Harris - Eva Muller
Brad William Henke - Denny
Paz de la Huerta - Nico (as Paz De La Huerta)
Michelle Hurst - Shapely Nurse
Anjelica Huston - Ida J. Mancini

Taglines: From the author of Fight Club

Official Website: 20th Century Fox [France] | Fox Searchlight Pictures [United States] |

Release Date: 30 October 2008

Filming Locations: Essex County Hospital Center - 204 Grove Avenue, Cedar Grove, New Jersey, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $1,319,286 (USA) (28 September 2008) (463 Screens)

Gross: $2,926,565 (USA) (23 November 2008)

Runtime: 92 min

Trivia:
Director Michelangelo Antonioni, a close friend of Anjelica Huston's, died during shooting, so in the scene where Huston's character is so sad and absent-minded that she can't speak, Huston didn't have to act much.

Goofs:
Continuity: In the scene where Victor played the rapist to a woman's fantasy of rape. In the first angle, the frustrated woman grabbed Victor's hand, which was holding the knife, so that it would be placed at her neck, then proceeded to use the vibrator on herself. Then when Victor says, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what about me?" the angle changed and focused on the woman, in which Victor's hand and the knife weren't anywhere to be seen. In the next shot, Victor had his hand and knife at her neck again.

Quotes:
Ida J. Mancini: We're not lost! We're pioneers.Blazing a trail through the new fronteir.And if you look very closely you'll see an opportunity to overcome your fear.Listen very closely,theres nothing worth having that comes without a risk.Cause I won't always be around to nag you... sometimes,its not important which way you jump... just that you jump!

Consistently amusing low-budget treat

Rating: 8/10

As of writing, Choke has not yet been given official distribution, and will not get it for about another month and a half at least (depending on your location). However, I managed to see it at the annual local film festival. I'll bring this review up when the film gets a wider release, but for now here is my initial opinion.

Choke is the story of sex-addicted loser Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell). Victor's main concern in life is to keep his demented mother (Anjelica Huston) alive and in hospital. He does this in the hope of finding out the truth about his strangely absent father. To pay the bills, he pretends to choke on his dinner in fancy restaurants and plays off his saviour's heroism for financial gain.

I think the majority of readers here are at the very least aware of the existence of Fight Club, the only other major movie aside from Choke to be based off a Chuck Palahniuk novel. Most of the people who will seek out Choke will do it mainly because of the connection to either Fight Club or the Choke novel (or both, as the case may be). Of course, I'll have to play the comparison game here, but it has to be said - Choke is a very different beast to both its source novel and its spiritual predecessor, Fight Club.

Anyone who's read Palahniuk's writing will know that his books are frequently dark, very twisted and somewhat humorous. Words like "diseased" and "cancerous" come to mind. It's this same feeling that infected both the Fight Club and Choke novels and made them perverse joys to read. Palahniuk's touch even translated perfectly in David Fincher's adaptation. With Clark Gregg's adaptation of Choke, the stylish darkness is traded for a far more conventional "quasi-independent comic" approach. Strangely enough, this seems to suit Choke even better.

After all, Choke is first and foremost a comedy. At a guess, I'd say it's roughly 80 per cent faithful to the original novel (more on that later) with a large number of jokes lifted from the novel. The laugh factor was a strange thing. On one hand, the laughs managed to stay more or less consistent, with none of the jokes falling flat. On the other hand, I personally didn't feel like anything was too funny. Everything raised a genuine chuckle but as for anything approaching "struggling-to-breathe" humour, there wasn't much there. It makes me wonder what's better, a comedy with consistent chuckling or sporadic bursts of hilarious moments. Not too sure.

Regardless, the film manages to be an enjoyable experience. First-timer Gregg manages to handle his duties (which include writing, directing and even one very amusing bit part) with confidence, balancing comedy with drama effectively. The acting is impressive to say the least. Rockwell manages to nail Victor perfectly, yet it's Brad William Henke that manages to steal several scenes as Victor's friend Denny. Another treat is the score, which is an interesting blend of different styles.

Choke not only manages to be an entertaining comedy, it also becomes a very good example of how to streamline a 300-page novel into a movie that's just shy of the 90-minute mark. The only problem with it depends on whether or not your sense of humour agrees with the film's, but if this film was already on your "to-see" list, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

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