Over the years, novelist Chuck Palahniuk has received vast acclaim for his creative, artistic yet psychotic work. After the success of Fight Club, which stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, more Palahniuk novels were sure to be made into feature films. However, no one could have guessed that the next film would be Choke.
Telling the story of historical guide Victor Mancini, Choke explores the extremes that one will go to be seen as normal. Suffering from an intense sexual addiction, Victor has never really been normal. For years he has attended help meetings for his problems; though his only initiative for attending is so he can stalk and then bed one of the straying females. And when he isn't at the meetings, he is either intentionally choking himself at an upscale restraunt or visiting his delusional mother at the hospital. But all this changes when Victor meets his mother's doctor, a beautiful young girl that Victor feels is Mrs. Right. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem all there as she informs him that based on his mother's diary; he is the immediate off-spring of Jesus Christ; thus making him the next coming.
Brought to life by the talented and underappreciated Sam Rockwell, Victor is a character unlike any other. From his intense obsession with women and sex to his kind and caring ways with his mother, Victor is a versatile man who doesn't seem to know his place in the world. His movements are impulsive as he seems comfortable with just barely getting by, a trait that is personified by Rockwell's dead-on antics that will literally make you laugh from beginning to end.
At his side is Anjelica Huston, who gives an expected stellar performance as Victor's deranged mom Ida. Blessed with the talent and respect to pick and choose her roles carefully, it is a wonder that Huston would choose such a dark and satirical film to star in. However, after seeing the film, you cannot imagine anyone else in the role. Though her screen time is limited, Huston presents her character with full force. From her witty dialogue to her deranged antics, everything is done perfectly, helping the film to carry a two-dimensional feel throughout.
But most of all, this film excels on its premise, which is as disturbing as it is ingenious. Carrying a dark, melancholy tone, the story would seem to be a hard sale. However, the brilliant mind of Palahniuk and direction of Clark Gregg helps to give the story a constant sense of relief as you sit and watch a man go through a life of pure hell. His actions are comical in and of themselves, but the situations that he is forced to endure make you glad that you aren't living his life, but more than happy to watch it become the life of someone else.
