I’m not a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan. I’ve only ever read Fight Club though some of his other novels are on my to-read list. After viewing the film adaptation of Choke, I can safely guess that the age-old adage, ‘the book was better’ still holds true. Actor/Writer/Director Clark Gregg (who appeared as SHIELD Agent Coulson in Iron Man) spent years developing the script and streamlined the novel into a less than 90 minute runtime. Something was certainly lost in translation.
Choke feels like five different films semi-coherently edited into one movie. Sam Rockwell plays a sex addict who works as a colonial re-enactor, is best friends with a chronic masturbator dating a stripper, visits his sick mother in a mental hospital (where old ladies believe he’s the messiah) while falling for her doctor. He also chokes in restaurants on purpose to scam money from his rescuers. Someone should have told Gregg he needed more than 89 minutes. Flashbacks involving the protagonist’s childhood are awkwardly shoehorned in.
Rockwell has perfected these kinds of sleazy, damaged roles, but he’ll be remembered this year for his performance in Snow Angels rather than this forgettable stab at dark comedy. The always adorable Kelly McDonald brings a small ray of sunshine to an otherwise flat and dreary production.
Rating: **
3 comments:
The book was a million times better. That's usually a cliche douchebaggy thing to say, but it's really true this time. And their decision to market the movie as some kinda National Lampoon sex romp was strange, to say the least.
Nice review, and nice blog. I'll be checkin' it from now on.
And I'm not a Palahniuk fanboy either, but you really should read "Invisible Monsters" ASAP.
Thanks and welcome to the blog.
I'll echo that the book is definitely better, as it usually is. (Even if Fight Club, IMO, is one of the few exceptions to this rule.)
"Survivor" is also pretty awesome, just don't read the synopsis on the back, since it pretty much gives away every plot point.
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