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Choke

Director: Clark Gregg

Running Time: 89 min. approx.

Starring: Anjelica Houston, Kelly Macdonald, Sam Rockwell, Brad William Henke

Chuck Palahniuk, who also wrote the novel that 'Fight Club' was based on, also wrote 'Choke'. It's about a guy who dropped out of medical school so that he could work to support his mother, who is in a care facility dealing with Alzheimers. He works as a colonial re-enacter in a historical town as day job and, for extra cash, pretends to choke on food at restaurants so that a patron will 'save' him and then send him money; he also goes to sex addict meetings to deal with his sex addiction, although the meetings seem to have a limited effect. All of his money goes to supporting his mother - she is the focus of his life in many ways. He meets a doctor at the facility and, through her, finds that what he believes about his conception may be wrong. He becomes almost obessed with finding out what really happened and this leads to some of the most amusing and emotional scenes in the movie.

The story is funny but in a bitter-sweet way - there are moments when you can feel quite sad about what he's going through and how he's dealing with his life, especially in regards to his childhood, which is shown as flashbacks during the whole movie. There are many funny scenes, especially when he's together with his best friend, played by Brad William Henke.

I enjoyed it - it was not a movie you forget just as soon as you smell fresh air but neither was it a movie that will stay with you for days afterwards. The storyline was interesting and funny, even though the ending wasn't what I would have chosen. I have read one of Chuck Palahniuk's books and have to say that his writing style doesn't appeal to me - but I do like his way of thinking. And I enjoyed this movie, so maybe I'll give another one of his books a go.