Sex addict Sam Rockwell confers with Kelly Macdonald about his dying mother (played by Anjelica Huston) in "Choke." Jessica MiglioFox Searchlight
"Choke" is the story of a depressed, smart-aleck sex addict (Sam Rockwell) who works as a costumed "historical interpreter" for tourists in a recreated colonial village when he's not visiting his insane, dying mother (Anjelica Huston); staging fake near-death experiences at restaurants to scam money from patrons who "save" him with the Heimlich maneuver; and wondering whether he really could be a clone generated from a particularly intimate anatomical relic of Jesus Christ.
Sex addict Sam Rockwell confers with Kelly Macdonald about his dying mother (played by Anjelica Huston) in "Choke." Jessica MiglioFox Searchlight
Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious ...
Rating: R for strong sexual content, nudity and language
Length: 89 minutes
Released: September 26, 2008 Limited
Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Clark Gregg, Brad William Henke
Director: Clark Gregg
Writer: Clark Gregg, Chuck Palahniuk
Obviously, "Choke" is different. Adapted from a novel by cult author Chuck Palahniuk ("Fight Club"), the movie is faithful to a fault. Like its source, it's overstuffed with ideas and incidents and colorful and often distasteful digressions. One wonders why character actor-turned-neophyte writer-director Clark Gregg felt the need to include the book's fake-rape scene, or the drinking-beer-from- slug-traps episode; I certainly wouldn't have cried if the anal beads subplot had been eliminated, so to speak.
As in the book, the most entertaining sequences take place at ye olde historical village, where the hero's best friend (Brad William Henke, a Seth Rogen type) frequently ends up in the stocks for committing anachronistic infractions that offend "Lord High Charlie," the colonial governor (Gregg), who limits his on-duty pronouns to "thee" and "thou."
These absurdist scenes suggest a potentially hilarious variation on "M*A*S*H," another tale in which smart noncomformists in a uniformed subculture matched wits with dim, by-the-book disciplinarians. To its credit, the movie actually does offer something of a relaxed 1970s vibe; the sexual frankness, matter-of-fact nudity, flat lighting and simple staging wouldn't be out of place in a Roger Corman "Nurse" production. (This is probably the least attractive film yet from David Gordon Green's longtime cinematographer, Tim Orr.)
Unsurprisingly, the movie is not really cynical, even though it seems to mock self-help philosophy and religious faith. Like seemingly every film these days, from "Alvin and the Chipmunks" to "Knocked Up," "Choke" wants to be inspirational. It's easy to imagine a sequel in which Rockwell's character visits Oprah to plug an autobiographical memoir titled "Choke."
"Choke" is playing exclusively at the Malco Paradiso.
-- John Beifuss, 529-2394
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Comments » 2
RD writes:
CA is definitely not a family newspaper anymore.
techjas#219395 writes:
Trash. Movie is trash, Commercial Appeal peddles trash. Nice work.
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