Choke

Written and directed by: Clark Gregg
Book by: Chuck Palahunik

Ok so I was super psyched when I learned that they had optioned the movie rights for a bunch of Chuck P’s books. Choke was the first book of his that I read, and compared to the rest, it’s pretty “light”.

Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) works at a historic recreation site. One of those places fieldtrips go to see how people lived in the 1800s. He and his best friend Denny (Brad Henke) often get in trouble for going out of character. He uses his money to support his mother Ida (Angelica Huston) who is has gone more nuts than she used to be and needs the care of a high priced facility to stay alive. Historical re-creaters don’t make that much money, so for additional income Victor has come up with this plan to choke on his food in high priced restaurants. The people who save him keep in contact with him over the years and are clued into to “hardships” that Victor faces, and therefore send him cash to help him out. Oh, and he’s a nymphomaniac who picks up chics at the N.A. meetings.

While visiting his mother one day (who by the way, never remembers who her son is) Victor runs into a new nurse Paige Marshal (Kelly McDonald) who has a few ideas on how to help Victor’s mother recover, which includes Victor getting her pregnant. The sex is right up Victor’s alley since he’s slept with most of the nurse/doctor staff there anyway, but it proves to be difficult and Victor thinks that he might be developing some sort of feelings for Paige. He also learns that his mother wants to reveal to him who his father is but won’t tell him since she doesn’t recognize who she is talking to.

Although it had been a while since I read the book, from what I can remember the movie sticks pretty closely to it. Of course there is more detail in the book. Chuck goes into Victor’s sex addiction a lot more. There is more story with Denny and his addiction (Denny too is a sex addicted, but he gives it up for rocks). And the ending is different. There is always something lost in translation between books and movies, but all in all Choke does the story justice.

Angelica Huston was a great mother Mancini. They have several flashbacks of Victor’s upbringing and how Ida would take him on random adventures. She plays crazy a little too well. I liked Sam Rockwell as Victor. He was as dirty (literally) as Victor comes off in the book. I also liked the guy who played Denny. I don’t remember ever seeing him in anything, so maybe that’s how he played Denny well. I really do wish they would have went into Denny’s story more. I might have to re-read the book to remember why exactly I liked Denny so much. And my only other complaint is that there wasn’t enough Choking. I mean that’s the title. There was so much more behind it in the book. Dude choked A LOT. But in the movie I think you only get about 4 instances. They should have at least eluded to him choking more and his system behind it. The movie has it seem like more of a hobby than an actual secondary income.

There are plenty laughs in the movie. It’s not a downright comedy, but Victor’s interactions with the old crazy women in his mother’s care facility had me in tears. It’s plenty nudity and sex in the movie, since he is a sex addict. And Chuck Palahniuk has a sick and twisted mind and I’m glad they let people like him share it with the world.