Choke (2008)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I realize that this movie is based upon a book and tries to keep within the scope of the original story. That said, it stands to reason that if the original story is crude and vulgar then it should be no wonder that this film is the same. So what we have here is a movie that relies upon being crass in order to be funny. At least for the most part. Admittedly, some of the scenes are quite humorous on its own. But they're almost immediately followed by a barnyard sex scene of some sort which, in my opinion, lowers the level of the film. Now, I fully realize that some people believe that being tacky is the same as being amusing. And so this film accommodates them by devolving to the lowest common denominator. But I personally thought the sex scenes were terribly dull and the humor wasn't that funny. Likewise, I didn't care for the flashbacks because they interrupted the flow of the movie. Not only that, but I wasn't really impressed by the acting either. But obviously I am in the minority. At any rate, if a person likes a film that has raunchy humor then this is a movie they will probably really enjoy. To each his own I suppose.

At the center of Choke are two superb, veteran character actors - Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston - who hand in such powerful, passionate performances that it's very likely they thought they were making a much better film than Choke. It's quite possible, in fact, that the initial script they read was much more fluent and coherent than the final product, and that it was the editing that butchered the film. Maybe a director's cut, with 40 or 50 extra minutes, will one day prove that to be the case.As it is, Choke is a barely coherent mess. It apparently tries to (or pretends to) tackle some pretty large issues, like sex addiction, subjective morality, and nurture vs. nature, but it says nothing about any of them and the end result is merely a pretty tasteless dark comedy with lots of explicit sex scenes. Entire plot threads are left hanging and make absolutely no sense, not by themselves nor in any sort of meaningful relation to others. It's most likely that Clark Gregg really loved the book, but had no idea how to make a movie out of it. It feels like a series of short scenes cut from a much larger work; that and the strong acting is enough to make for a few entertaining scenes, but not enough to make a watchable movie.

Choke is the ultimate "tweeny" film – too cute to be truly edgy and too edgy to be merely cute. This leaves it in the uncomfortable middle ground of not having either a core die-hard audience or mainstream appeal.But I'm not here to market the thing, I only want to give my opinion. Well it's interesting at times but I didn't actually think it was really that deserving a film. That might be more a reason for its lack of box-office than their prudish attitude to sex, after all flash some celeb tit or show liberal amounts of nubile teenage skin and you've got a hit on your hands.Sam Rockwell plays Victor – a sex-addict whose life is consumed with fantasy, physical contact and basically release, though he is never satisfied and is in fact afraid of true intimacy. His best friend is Danny and he suffers from the same affliction, they both work in theme park portraying US pioneer times, constantly looking for targets and boldly seeking encounters – however brief.Therefore we are then subject to numerous cutaways and flashbacks showing various encounters in true Rob Schneider fashion – albeit with less "hilarious" disabilities and in a far better (though still average) film. If we believe these inserts (pardon the expression) Victor gets more tail than a rock star and flips over more chicks than Alfie in a standard week.Victor and Denny both lament their affliction yet are ruled by its power. There is in fact a group session available featuring several others sharing their predicament but the allure of the flesh seems stronger than the desire for a cure and they rarely attend.But that doesn't seem to be the main point of the movie, although to be honest I don't really know what is… Victor also regularly feigns near-death experiences – hence the title – and maximises on the newly faked formed bond by cadging off his carefully chosen benefactor on an ongoing basis to supplement his meagre income.Victor's Mother is in a nursing home in need of special care. As she raised Victor from infancy – he never knew who his real Dad was – he has an ever greater than normal bond with his Mum and visits her regularly (though again he seems to have tried it on – and often succeeded – with most nurses in the hospital). The problem is that the facility is not for Aged care but for mental health issues, and it seems his Mum has always had serious issues in the upstairs department.In fact when Victor visits his own Mother doesn't even recognise her son, so he adopts a variety of personas including lawyers and Victor's friends in attempts to get through to her to spark frank discussions about his childhood and past.On one such unsuccessful visit Victor is told by a woman named Paige that Mum is destined to move into another floor, one with more dedicated and intensive care – a bad sign – and he resists, though he does do his darndest to slide his Way into Paige's Doctor's outfit, his attempts rejected… initially.The remainder of the film deals with Victor's conflicting goals: he starts a torrid affair with Paige that quickly loses momentum when his "desire" is waylaid, while simultaneously striving to get through to his Mum and uncover more about his past.Rockwell finally lands a lead and does his best to maintain our er… interest in an increasingly convoluted plot. I continually thought of him as more likable (as a character not a love interest) guy than a conflicted man rent asunder by desperation and addiction. Angelica Huston plays Mum as a loving but manipulative, selfish and deceitful woman, and Kelly MacDonald is convincing as a woman that Victor… might like to have sex with??? The film suffers from trying to inject too many damn ideas into the fray, many of them are never actually seen through to any satisfying conclusion which creates an element of dissatisfaction. The main example of this is the Choking thing which supplies the film with little more than a title.One vice I understand, another unnecessary quirk is a tougher act to swallow… in fact one might say this film Chokes on it… just a little at least.This is a film that falls victim to its source material, while a novel might have hundreds of page with which to introduce and follow through with ideas, a movie has but 90 odd (in this case) minutes to do the same. A little more judicious exorcising of some extraneous elements might have helped here… Or they could have just bought in more nubile young teens and asked them to flash the jubblies, that works too.Final Rating – 5.5 / 10. A film that doesn't know what it wants to do or what it wants to say.

This film is based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, who also wrote the rather excellent Fight Club (1999). Combine that with a cast that includes Anjelica Huston and Sam Rockwell and I hope we're onto a winner! So it was with fingers crossed and very little knowledge of the plot, I sat down to watch.Victor Mancini is a sex addict; he goes to group sessions to help with his addiction but only ends up having sex with the woman he's supposed to be sponsoring. He works together with his best friend, Denny, at a Colonial America re-enactment park, the kind of place school kids go to learn about the early settlers. He also is a com-man, faking choking fits in restaurants in order to get money so he can support his mother, Ida, who has dementia and lives in a home. On one of his visits he meets a doctor, Paige Marshall, who thinks she knows a way to help Ida, but it's risky. I really don't want to give too much away, so I'll leave my short plot summary here.A pretty well made film with really good performances from both Sam Rockwell as Victor and Anjelica Huston as Ida J. Mancini. I must also give honourable mentions to Brad William Henke as Denny and Kelly Macdonald as Paige Marshall.A lot of the story is told in flashback, harking back to when Victor was a boy on the run with Ida. A really quirky film with all the odd twists you'd expect from the writer of Fight Club. Although it's far from prefect I enjoyed this one very much, and that's not just because of the nudity and sex scenes. Over all, not perfect, enjoyable with a few laughs: Recommended.My score: 6.8/10