Country: United States
Genre: Comedy
Director: Clark Gregg
Year: 2008
Rating: 
WORTH A LOOK
I’ll be the first to admit that Choke doesn’t really hang together as a metaphorical examination of how society labels us, with the filmmakers ultimately concluding that the responsibility for our identity lies with us. Actually, I think that whole idea is a crock. We don’t make ourselves. That’s what people who succeed tell themselves to justify their good fortune.
But Choke is a tonic for people who think of themselves as hopelessly fu#^ed up losers. However neurotic you are, Victor (Sam Rockwell), the hero of Choke, has you beat. He works in a historical recreation village, playing the part of an Irish indentured servant. He has casual sex with anyone who says yes. He deliberately causes himself to choke in restaurants, so that someone will save him. His best friend is Denny (Brad William Henke), who masturbates 15 times a day, and can barely make a fist as a result.
How did poor Victor get this way? His mother is one Ida J. Mancini (Anjelica Huston), an unfit mother who repeatedly steals Victor from his foster parents and is constantly on the run from the police. She’s certifiable. Typical hijinks include stealing school buses and freeing zoo animals.
So, the main question for my readers is, is Choke entertaining? Well, yes, as long as it sticks to the nonstop comic depiction of depravity. Normally, I can’t stomach Sam Rockwell as an actor, but his natural skivviness works for the role. Much humor is derived from the outrageousness and sheer variety of the perverse happenings. The Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings are a blast. Where Choke gets into trouble is on a philosophical level. It’s a hopeless muddle.
It’s not really writer/director Clark Gregg’s fault. He does fine with novelist Chuck Palahniuk’s material, wisely jettisoning the potential stoning of our hero in one episode, but don’t blame Gregg if he can’t make something meaningful out of the philosophical doggeral of the novel. It was never on the page to start with.
As long as you view Choke as an entertaining freak show, the equivalent of watching Ozzie Osborne bite the head off of a bat, you’ll have a good time. Ignore the attempts at relevance and heart, and you’ll be fine.