Washington-born and mobile home-raised, Chuck Palahniuk has managed to infuse his truly poetic writings with some of the dinginess of his humble upbringing.
In 1999, Palahniuks second novel Fight Club was adapted into a feature film directed by David Fincher. Fincher captured the Palahniuk universe masterfully and yanked two amazing performances out of two amazing performers in Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Despite opening at No. 1 during its first weekend, Fight Club was received to lukewarm reviews and financial disappointment. Though upon Fight Club's release on DVD, it developed quite the following and became wildly successful. Two years later, Choke was published and became Palahniuk's first No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list. This gave way to future success with his novels Lullaby, Diary, Haunted, and Rant. His latest work, Snuff, was released May 20, 2008, to positive reviews.
While many of Chuck's works are currently in one stage or another of development, his second adaptation premiered early this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Choke tells the story of Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell), a medical school dropout and current historical re-enactor, who picks up supplementary income by forcing himself to choke at restaurants and allowing himself to be saved. Upon being saved, he finds that he creates a special bond with these good samaritans, and then goes on to send them letters detailing the fictional troubles of his life, to which he receives responses of cash and checks. All this is done to service a single purpose of keeping his ailing mother in a nursing home he clearly cannot afford. Victor's best friend Denny is along on the quest to find out about his father, himself, his sexual addiction, and about the attractive female doctor caring for his mother.
Directed by Clark Gregg, Choke captures much of Palahniuk's flair and lunacy but somewhat leaves feeling like a neutered version of the book. Gregg, who also penned the script, takes the light and the dark, the sad and the funny, and messes with the Chuck formula resulting with an uneven picture. Rockwell, as Mancini, couldn't have done more to nail the essence of Victor's character -- it's hard to imagine Chuck being more satisfied with anyone else playing Victor. Gregg does succeed at recreating the voice over narration for Victor that Rockwell so expertly delivers, leaving fans with reason enough to view the film.
Anjelica Huston dazzles, as always, as Victor's mess of a mother. She goes from playing the younger version of her deluded self to the batshit crazy, older version with absolute ease. The supporting players are hit and miss, and the same can be said for many of the scenes. To create a metaphor with Victor, its all foreplay and no sex. The film captures you enough to make you want to love it, but leaves you feeling unfulfilled and unsatisfied.
For Chuck Palahniuk fans this movie will be an enjoyable companion piece to the novel. While Fight Club was so expertly crafted with its multiple layers and pitch-perfect Palahniuk tone it could serve as a book substitute, Choke works as a wonderful appetizer for a significantly better novel.
Review by: Greg MacLennan
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