ShareThis"Choke" is no "Fight Club," but in a world of far too few Chuck Palahniuk movie adaptations, it suffices.Few writers capture the despair of the masculine ego with the writer's verve or insight.Palahniuk's "Fight Club" and its film adaptation was a primal scream of rage against materialism and corporate mind control. "Choke" doesn't handle issues as lofty, but it occasionally cuts with the same witty insight.Sam Rockwell plays Victor, a medical school dropout who works in costume at an 18th-century theme park. He's addicted to sex and works scams to earn money that helps him pay his mom's mental hospital bills.As in "Fight Club," a support group plays a role in the lead character's life. Victor, who's stuck in the early half of a 12-step sex-addicts program, uses the group for quickies with the woman he's sponsoring.He spends much of his time with his co-worker and eventual roommate, Denny (Brad William Henke). A compulsive masturbator, Denny is forced by his boss to spend a lot of each shift clamped in stocks to keep his hands locked up.While Denny isn't easily embarrassed, he can't bear to be with Victor when he engages in his routine con - choking at a restaurant, then stumbling toward someone he thinks is rich. Victor rationalizes that it's a win-win. He makes his marks look and feel like heroes, and because they come to see themselves as his caretaker, they often send him money when he tells them he's hard up for cash. The choking theme is a through-line that comes into play during Victor's childhood flashbacks, but it wears thin and seems forced."Choke," at heart, is the story of Victor's unwillingness to confront his self-destructive qualities and his oddball romance with Paige (Kelly Macdonald, "No Country for Old Men"), his mom's nurse, who mysteriously won't meet him outside the hospital.Anjelica Huston turns in a powerhouse performance as Victor's mother, who has lost her mental faculties and no longer recognizes him when he comes to visit. At one point, Victor poses as a lawyer as he tries to learn the secret she's always kept from him - his father's identity. This is thoroughly Rockwell's film, which he rocks with a devil-may-care aplomb. Stuck in a never-ending adolescence, he's choking on his own sense of worthlessness and no one's around to give him a Heimlich maneuver. It's all part of Palahniuk's dark and twisted vision.3 stars out of 4Rated: R for strong sexual content, nudity and language.Cast: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Brad William Henke.Director: Clark Gregg.Family call: Not at all for kids.Running time: 89 minutes. E-mail Phil Villarreal at Pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Rockwell rocks in 'Choke'
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