ThiefHott Too much of everything

LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Executscan Expected more

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

nowego Being a bit of a fan of Sam Rockwell and Kelly Macdonald, this was a pretty easy movie to watch. It helped that it was also quite amusing and downright funny in some parts. The sex might put some viewers off, but for me it didn't detract from the movie. I haven't read the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, so I cannot judge whether it does it justice or not. I can only judge on what I just watched.Anjelica Huston and Brad William Henke do a really good job as mother and best friend respectively. Maybe a minor spoiler, look for the blond cancer joke the stripper inadvertently enacted, it made me laugh out loud, but some might not find it so amusing. An amusing movie right up there with some of Sam Rockwell's good ones, one of the few movies on IMDb in which I think the current rating of 6.5/10 is about right.

MBunge Many, many years ago, there was a television show called "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd". It was the first program I can recall being referred to as a "dramedy". I don't know who came up with that term, if it was a critic or a network suit of one of show's creators, but I believe it was meant to encapsulate "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd" not following the conventions or abiding by the demands of either comedy or drama. However, rather than symbolizing some new blend or fusion of genres, "dramedy" very quickly became synonymous with shows that simply aren't funny enough to be comedies or dramatic enough to be dramas. In that sense of the word, Choke is all "dramedy".Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) is a sex addict with a declining mother (Angelica Huston) in a psychiatric facility. When he's not trying to bang every woman who walks by, Victor fakes choking in restaurants. He lets someone save him and then asks them for money, relying on his savior's sense of responsibility, pity or self-aggrandizement to make them fork over the cash he needs to pay for his mother's care. Victor also works as a colonial re-enactor with his fellow sex addict Denny (Brad William Henke).The film jumps back and forth between Victor's miserable present and his childhood with his charismatically crazy mom, with the scenes of past and present being connected with all the subtlety of a cinder block dropped on your groin. Victor eventually falls into a relationship with Paige (Kelly Macdonald), a psychiatric doctor who claims she can help Victor's mom. That relationship renders Victor impotent, though he seems less bothered by that than by his delusional mother's refusal to tell him who his father is.The story goes through several other digressions, but eventually winds up with Victor having an epiphany. Though all of Choke is about how his mother's care gave Victor's grotesquely low self-esteem and that's the source of all his personal dysfunction, he apparently decides to stop being a sex addict and just be a person who likes to have sex with strangers in strange places. I don't get that distinction and this movie didn't do anything to clarify it.There is a decent amount of nudity here and scattered bits of comedy that pop up now and again, but Choke is never really funny. The script sets up a lot of theoretically humorous situations and personal characteristics. All it is, however, is set up. The punch line should come when someone does something funny in those situations or behaves in a funny way because of those characteristics and those punch lines are too few and too far between.On the other hand, the supposed drama in Choke fails in the opposite direction. Every emotional and intellectual conflict in the story is spelled out so plainly and unavoidably, there might just as well have been sub-titles running along the bottom of the screen explaining to the viewer what he or she is seeing and how they should respond to it. I can't speak for everyone, but it's impossible for me to get invested into a story when it feels like someone is slapping me in the face every 5 minutes and saying "Do you get it, idiot?"There's no complaints about the acting, though Joel Grey is so effective at invoking the tragedy of sex addiction he only underscores how cavalierly the rest of Choke deals with the matter. Writer/director/actor Clark Gregg only does a decent job with the last third of that designation. He knows which direction the camera should be pointed but beyond that, he doesn't appear to have any grasp at all of his story or how he's telling it.This isn't a disastrous bit of cinema. If you're looking for something intentionally off beat, you might like it. I found myself wishing I had watched a marathon of Molly Dodd reruns instead.

Petri Pelkonen This movie tells the story of Victor Mancini, a sex addict.He has a mother who doesn't know his son.His hobby includes pretending to be choking in restaurants.But also someone like Victor can find true love, sort of speaking.That special gal is called Paige Marshall, who takes care of his mother.Choke (2008) is directed by Clark Gregg.It's based on a Chuck Palohniuk novel, which I haven't read.Sam Rockwell is the perfect man to play Victor.Jonah Bobo is great as his younger version.Anjelica Huston gives an outstanding performance as his mother Ida Mancini.Kelly Macdonald is brilliant as Paige Marshall.Brad William Henke is terrific as the best friend Denny.Gillian Jacobs gives a great performance as the stripper Beth, Denny's love interest.Director Gregg is very good as Lord High Charlie.Great job by Bijou Phillips as Ursula the Milk Maid.Joel Grey is superb as Phil.This is a nice little movie.It has some brave sex scenes and strong language, but the story it portrays is still somewhat warm.It is quite intriguing when they present us a chance that Victor might be a Jesus clone.This black comedy is worth checking out.

christopher-underwood Good solid black comedy from actor/director, Clark Gregg. I'm assuming that the great performances in difficult territory are, at least in part, due to the director's acting background. I have not read this Palahnuk book, but shall now for I am surprised to find myself in agreement with others who reckon this could have been longer. 90 minutes is usually fine for me but here there was so much going on in so many different ways and all made so watchable by the sly and wicked humour that runs throughout. Angelica Huston gives a marvellous central performance whilst Sam Rockwell and Brad Henke just perfect. It is a vitally good performance too from Kelly Macdonald and the final twist intriguing. I've put of seeing this because of the whole sex addict business and the title! As it turns out the choking scenes are more or less played for laughs as are the sex clinic ones. By the end we are wishing this would go even deeper and further, but then I guess the book does and that this is at least a good stab at conveying the essential qualities. The very decent script certainly comes across as believably Palahnuk. Good film.