What if FIGHT CLUB were a Sundance-style, whimsical, sun-lit relationship drama? What if Tyler Durden were a thirty-something college drop-out, working in a medieval theme park? What if he was emasculated by an emotionally manipulative mother? What if, instead of literally fighting back, he fucked women compulsively? What if, instead of meeting suicidal Martha Singer, he met a similarly delusional doctor? What if, instead instead of a dark, visually inspired, menacing thriller, you got a sporadically very funny but ultimately uneven film called CHOKE?
The problem with CHOKE is that actor turned director Clark Gregg skates over the truly sinister and provocative aspects of the source material - transforming a subversive text about sexual inadequacy and mental illness into an off-beat comedy. Sam Rockwell excels at these loser-outsider roles, but the character is simply two-dimensional. Angelica Huston has fun as his mentally ill mother, but the dress-up during the flashbacks is distracting and undermines any sense of profundity. Half way through this film I just wondered why I should care. Accordingly, the film is reduced to a superficial comedy, and while it has its moments, the humour isn't consistent enough for it to really sustain viewer interest.
CHOKE played Sundance 2008 where Sam Rockwell won the Best Actor prize. CHOKE opened last autumn and is currently available on DVD and on iTunes.
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