‘CHOKE” tries to be dirty but manages merely to be dingy.
The second of what figure to be many adaptations of Chuck Palahniuk novels has none of the atom-
splitting energy of the previous one, “Fight Club.” This time the 12-step meetings, sick jokes and twist ending leave you – like the central character – feeling nothing.
A sex addict named Victor (Sam Rockwell) who goes to bonkers anonymous meetings ends up in another room doing the wild thing with a fellow slave to the flesh. (This scene is essentially repeated several times.) Victor’s job is to be a general target of abuse while playing an 18th-century servant in a theme park, where everyone says things like “Bring it then varlet, if thou be a man.” (This scene is essentially repeated several times.) For fun, he goes to the local loony bin where he shtups the staffers and has weird conversations with his dementia-stricken mother (Anjelica Huston). (This scene is essentially repeated several times.)
To earn extra money, he goes to restaurants where he makes himself choke on food but allows himself to be Heimliched by good Samaritans, who then feel so touched at saving a life that they virtually adopt Victor, sending him regular checks.
Rockwell is so ironic and insouciant that there’s no reason to care whether he achieves either of his goals: seducing a doctor played by Kelly MacDonald – whose tender yearning is the sole bright spot in the film – and figuring out who his father is.
Palahniuk blurts a million bizarre and brilliant ideas across every page, but this movie makes him almost boring. Whether because of lack of budget or lack of vision, first-time director Clark Gregg (also a bland character actor who plays Victor’s theme-park enemy) gives every scene the look of a commercial for a used-car dealership in Totowa, NJ. Even “Fight Club” wouldn’t be “Fight Club” if you took away David Fincher’s visuals and told the story with finger puppets.
CHOKE
Spit it out.
Running time: 92 minutes. Rated R (sex, nudity, profanity). At the Empire, the Lincoln Square, the Kips Bay, others.