Choke
2008 Directed by Clark Gregg
Synopsis
From the author of Fight Club
A sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.
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Film #58 of The December Project
As a huge fan of dark comedies, weird love stories, Sam Rockwell, and Fight Club (this film is based on a book by the same author), this was pretty much a favorite waiting to happen for me. It would've taken much more effort NOT to like this film than to like it. I haven't read the book so I have no idea how well it captures the spirit/tone of the novel, but I found the film version hilarious, thought-provoking, and profound.Here you've got a man named Victor (Sam Rockwell) trying to beat his sex addiction by going to meetings regularly with his best friend Denny. They both work at one of those historical…
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Film #2 Of The December Project
Why hasn't Clark Gregg directed anything else since Choke?
It has a perfect mix of quirky, funny, and heart, great performances and an excellent script adapted from Chuck Palahniuk's novel. The film also has a very strong narrative voice, with the character of Victor played excellently by the ever-reliable Sam Rockwell.
The story constantly twists and turns, and goes to some really surprising and interesting directions that I really hadn't expected from a film about a sex addict who pretends to choke himself to scam people's money.
It strangely reminded me of a mix between the Coen Brother's 'A Serious Man' and Jonze and Kaufman's 'Adaptation'. Overall, it was a really good little movie, and I really need to check out the book after I finish my basically never-ending list of books I have piled up on my shelf.
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Sam Rockwell + Chuck Palahniuk + directed by Agent Coulson = One fucking stellar combination
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If you
a. have read and thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and
b. have a big ol' mancrush on Sam Rockwell and a soft spot for Anjelica doing Anjelica,
you have my blessing to go ahead and watch this movie. You probably won't find it great, but it should, as it did for me, play like butter.But if you're not in love with Sam babe or a fan of Palahniuk's, then for the life of me I can't think of a single reason to watch it.
(Also, someone get me whatever Kelly Macdonald was on while shooting this.)
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Film #24 of The December Project.
Clark Gregg, better known as Agent Phil Coulson, directs a film, starring Sam Rockwell and adapted from a book by Chuck Palahniuk, about a sex addict who works as a reenactor of life in Colonial America who pays his the health care bills for his mother's Alzheimer's disease by intentionally choking at restaurants and then conning his saviors out of money.
Now, doesn't that sound awesome? See that's what I thought too, but Choke never really clicked for me.
Yeah, Rockwell is great as usual and Anjelica Huston is good, too, but I just couldn't get myself to care about anything happening on-screen. It didn't help that Kelly Macdonald, who I usually like on…
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Such a disappointment. It practically replaces the bleak, dark, disturbingly acid narrative of Chuck Palahniuk's book with a lighter, whimsical, almost sitcom like POV.
Whereas in the book Victor was a fucked up character, trying to live with his own demons, the Victor in the film portrayed by Sam Rockwell is just annoying, and not interesting. The same goes for the rest of the characters.
It's clear the director (actor Clark Gregg) likes and respects the novel enough. The intentions are good, but the final decisions were wrongfully taken.
Read the book.
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The book was much, much better. It gets half a star only because I like parts of the cast: Sam Rockwell, Gillian Jacobs, Clark Gregg, etcetera.
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A reasonably faithful adaptation with a good cast, but it's lacking the inventiveness and verve that's needed to pull of Palahniuk's brand of insanity, and falls a bit flat as a result. Shame.
[By which I mean "it's a shame", rather than just randomly mentioning the film Shame, which is another film about a sex addict and is much better than this]
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Another Palahniuk masterpiece on film. Hats off to you, sir!
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When I first saw Fight Club, I was blown away. I ran out to read the book it was based on, and enjoyed that immensely as well. From there I started reading all of Chuck Palahniuk's stuff, growing more and more disappointed by the mediocrity and shock for shock's sake. I began to wonder if I would even have enjoyed Fight Club (the book) if I hadn't first seen the film.
So when I heard they were adapting Choke, I didn't know what to expect. The book failed to impress me, but I like Sam Rockwell.
But no, this movie is just a mess. The story is pointless and uninteresting, and though the source material wasn't very good to start… -
I loved the book, and the movie doesn't do it any justice. But Sam Rockwell really delivers on how i picture Victor to be.
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The misadventures of a sex addict con artist with mommy issues. As a fan of Fight Club I wanted to like this but boy was I disappointed. Tries too hard to be out there but deep inside it isn't.
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Such a disappointment. It practically replaces the bleak, dark, disturbingly acid narrative of Chuck Palahniuk's book with a lighter, whimsical, almost sitcom like POV.
Whereas in the book Victor was a fucked up character, trying to live with his own demons, the Victor in the film portrayed by Sam Rockwell is just annoying, and not interesting. The same goes for the rest of the characters.
It's clear the director (actor Clark Gregg) likes and respects the novel enough. The intentions are good, but the final decisions were wrongfully taken.
Read the book. -
The film starts pretty good then loses some of its drive. It managed to ship around being a pseudo-deep intellectual movie by a hair's breadth - I can't watch these anymore - I'm too old for liking too artsy movies.
After all: the script is unique and I enjoyed watching the movie. A solid ★★★.
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Es como 'Fight Club' pero sin el genio visionario detrás de las cámaras. La película sufre un poco la falta de ambición en la dirección, pero un guión brillante y desvergonzado y un Sam Rockwell totalmente volcado en su personaje bastan para hacer que el conjunto funcione. Además se le ven las tetas a Gillian Jacobs y oye, eso que te llevas.