Choke: Disappointingly flaccid

ninemsn

“Choke” is the film adaption of Chuck Palahniuk’s book of the same name. Palahniuk’s last book to make it to film, “Fight Club”, caused a splash but fans expecting an equally brilliant adaption, this time about an angst-ridden sex addict, will find it lacks the same punch and is disappointingly flaccid.

It centers on Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell), a man whose various troubles all lead back to his disturbed mother Ida (Anjelica Huston), who is in a private hospital suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Victor has dropped out of medical school to fund her expensive care and now works as a colonial village re-enactor and part-time con artist to pay the bills.

Victor’s childhood was an unhappy one. With Ida deemed unfit to care for him, he drifted between foster homes — occasionally interrupted by Ida’s attempts to kidnap him before being returned to the child welfare system. As an adult that trauma has manifested itself into an addiction to meaningless sexual encounters: Victor prefers the instant gratification of sex over the vulnerability of a real and meaningful relationship.

Rockwell and Huston both do a wonderful job in their roles and are the film’s greatest strengths. However, the film suffers from too many incongruous parts and undeveloped minor characters. Juggling scenes from the hospital with a sexual addiction support group, flashbacks, a bizarre doctor/father storyline, and Victor’s best friend and stripper girlfriend, the film struggles to tie them all together.

In the end there is something “tired” about the tone. This distinctly masculine nihilism is so ’90s, which is fair enough considering the book was published in 2001. But while “Fight Club” also reveled in cynicism and antipathy, there was a visual exuberance and pace that kept the film alive. “Choke”, on the other hand, fumbles through the storyline and fails to satisfy.

ninemsn’s MovieFix, October 2008.