IMDb > Choke (2008)
Choke
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Photos (see all 48 | slideshow) Videos (see all 27)
Choke (2008) -- This is the theatrical trailer for Choke, directed by Clark Gregg.
Choke (2008) -- Clip: I'm right here
Choke (2008) -- Featurette: Chuck Palahniuk
Choke (2008) -- Interview: Anjelica Huston "On her reaction to the script"
Choke (2008) -- Satirical comedy about a sex addict who finds a woman he can fall for

Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   11,797 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Clark Gregg
Writers (WGA):
Clark Gregg (screenplay)
Chuck Palahniuk (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for Choke on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
30 October 2008 (Australia) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama more
Tagline:
From the author of Fight Club
Plot:
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. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
1 win & 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(143 articles)
Fight Club Pummels Its Way to Bluray
 (From Atomic Popcorn. 1 September 2009, 6:22 AM, PDT)
[Giveaway] - New giveaway, "It's Alive" DVDs to win !
 (From OhMyGore. 24 August 2009, 9:42 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Chewed The Book, Swallow The Movie? more (47 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Kathryn Alexander ... Mousy Girl / Agnes
Teodorina Bello ... Jamaican Lady

Kate Blumberg ... Edwin's Wife
Jonah Bobo ... Young Victor
Willi Burke ... Deranged Socialite (as Wilma 'Willi' Burke)
Heather Burns ... Internet Date / Gwen

David Wolos-Fonteno ... Edwin (as David Fonteno)

Matt Gerald ... Detective Ryan

Clark Gregg ... Lord High Charlie
Joel Grey ... Phil

Viola Harris ... Eva Muller

Brad William Henke ... Denny

Paz de la Huerta ... Nico (as Paz De La Huerta)
Michelle Hurst ... Shapely Nurse

Anjelica Huston ... Ida J. Mancini
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and language.
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
92 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (DeLuxe)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Certification:
USA:R (certificate #44083) | UK:18 | Ireland:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Singapore:R21 | Canada:18A (British Columbia) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Brazil:18 | Australia:R | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:18 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | France:U (with warning) | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating)
Filming Locations:
Essex County Hospital Center - 204 Grove Avenue, Cedar Grove, New Jersey, USA more
Company:
Fox Searchlight Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Cameo: [Chuck Palahniuk]the author of the book, is the man sitting next to Victor on the plane at the end of the movie. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Victor is attempting to feed his mother cannelloni in their first meeting scene, the camera changes angle and she is not wearing the napkins he previously placed under her chin. When the camera moves back to another angle the napkins have miraculously returned. more
Quotes:
Victor Mancini: Sometimes you have to loose everything before the penny finally drops... or... whatever.So here's what I figured out.We're not evil sinners or perfect knock offs of god.We let the world tell us weather we're saints or sex addicts.Sane or insane.Heroes or victims.Weather we're good mothers,or loving sons.But we can decide for ourselves.As a certain wise fugitive once told me,sometimes its not important which way you jump,just that you jump. more
Movie Connections:
References "Gilligan's Island" (1964) more
Soundtrack:
Navy Nurse more

FAQ

Is "Choke" based on a book?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
more

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
17 out of 20 people found the following comment useful.
Chewed The Book, Swallow The Movie?, 14 November 2008
7/10
Author: Joseph Sylvers from United States

The only Chuck P. book I own. It's a very funny book, about lust and salvation, and here it is on screen in...pretty good form. That is to say I was a little disappointed, with the ending in particular, which strikes a very different tone (not terrible, just different)....but that's neither here nor there.

Choke is the story of Victor, med-school dropout who takes care of his 70's radical mom now suffering from dementia and dying after years of drug use and mental instability. In order to pay for her upkeep, Victor pulls double duty at his two jobs, one as an employee at a Colonial American theme park, and two, choking on food in restaurant, so that those who save his life, will feel obligated to help him out with cash from time to time. Who would save someone's life, only to let them die, once you know their sad penniless (over exaggerated) story? Victor targets the wealthy and affluent, "You don't wanna get saved by some waiter", he says in one of many direct addresses to the audience. The broken 4th wall, reminiscent of Fight Club, is taken directly from the book, and one of the films stronger techniques.

In the hospital he meets, a young doctor, who assists him in translating his mother's diary, which leads to shocking questions about Victor's origins, and his father or lack there of.

Victor goes to sex addict meetings usually just to have sex in the bathroom with fellow addicts. While his best friend Denny, a chronic masturbator, begins taking his first shaky steps to recover, which involves romancing a Stripper and collecting rocks for each day his sobriety, "idle hands are the devils playground". The sex addiction and the need to save his mom, are the twin turbines that propel this film, and by the end they are both so clearly intertwined it escapes being exploitative.

I enjoyed this version of Choke, which was kinda of like Choke-Light, but still very funny, if only slightly missing the aim of the novel; the heady and vulgar mix of the sacred and the profane. That is to say, important sub-plots, and main-plot points get muted; we know why Victor chokes, there are more reasons than I stated above, but we don't get to see the people who fund his faints here, as we do in the book, and so that aspect of the story, seems a little disconnected. As do Denny and the rocks, another vital story element for me, got put on the back-burner here. Denny replaces one fetish with another, and most of the rooms of his house are filled with rocks.

(Actually they shot this ending, you can see pictures online, but decided against it, before release.) Okay, but everyone always says the book is better than the movie, I know, I know, I just had to get that out.

What's left of Choke though is commanded by Sam Rockwell, who is only improving as an actor, and Angelica Houston who needs no intro. While it's not as conceptually taught as I would have liked, its still really, really funny, and at a few moments, a bit moving (Ive got a personal soft spot for movies with visits to the demented in hospitals; The Savages is especially hard to watch), at least for me.

It's an allegorical sex comedy, but it's also a very accessible one, considering the weirdness of the material. It's a more personal story than "Fight Club", and almost an opposite ideology, "building anything", versus "tearing down everything", but told in the same sardonic writerly tone, weave come to expect from Palahniuk.

In the end, I just wanted more, but it was fun, and the story was brought to life, mostly just as I had imagined it when reading.

Also it's got the funniest and perhaps the only funny, "rape" scene, ever filmed (it is and it's not what it sounds like).

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Choke (2008)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Did anyone watch this without reading the book? annaFTW
'nose spray' fangirl89
NO SERIOUSLY, every single amateur mistake possible. Count em. WestTheFest
I had such high hopes for this.... DigAPonyy
Everyone on coke? arriva
Liked The Book, Should I See The Movie? jastewart-2
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