The Oxford American Dictionary defines the word "choke" as "hav(ing) severe difficulty in breathing because of a constricted or obstructed throat or a lack of air" and "fail(ing) to perform at a crucial point of a game or contest owing to a failure of nerve."
Both of these definitions come into play when considering the film of the same name – the first definition having to do with the film's subject matter, and the second having to do with the actual production of the film itself.
"Choke," based on the novel by out "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk and out now in limited releases, follows character Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell), a sex-addict with a mentally deteriorating mother (Anjelica Huston). Victor is a man looking for love in all the wrong places. In addition to bedding every woman that comes his way, Victor gets off in a different manner – by intentionally causing himself to choke in restaurants, staggering toward the richest looking person in the room.
"You can't fool people into loving you," his perpetually-masturbating best friend Denny (Brad William Henke) tells him right before yet another choking stunt. Denny is, understandably, reluctant to go out to eat with Victor.
"Wanna bet?" Victor replies, shoving food down his throat.
Later the two are shown tearing open envelopes in Victor's house. The envelopes contain cash and checks from Victor's "saviors" in response to false requests for further help. Victor portrays himself as a guy who has fallen on hard times – which isn't entirely false.
Denny frowns upon this as well, but Victor is unrepentant. "Let me explain something. I provide a service. They send some cash, it renews their savior experience," he says.
But it's not like Victor doesn't have a job. Both he and Denny work as some sort of Greenfield Village-esque colonial reenactment attraction. The two often butt heads with their boss and fellow historical interpreter Lord High Charlie (Clark Gregg, who also directed the movie and wrote the screenplay) for not taking their roles as seriously as he does.
Still, this job doesn't bring in enough money to keep his mother in her private mental hospital. While every day she seems to recognize him less and less, Victor continues to visit and advocate for her. So when he meets his mother's new doctor Paige Marshall (Kelly Macdonald), a woman both beautiful and personally-invested in his mother's care, it's as if he's struck gold.
Naturally, the first thing he wants to do is sleep with her. After all, he's banged the rest of the female staff. But Paige is not like the rest of the staff. In more ways than one. To say that Victor gets a bit of a messiah complex after meeting Paige is a bit of an understatement.
Victor is, above all, a man searching for his own personal history. The film's flashbacks to his fractured childhood life with his mother help put into context why this man wants to "fool people" into loving him. This film, however, will have a harder time "fooling people" into loving it. This is where the second definition of "choke" comes in. "Choke" the film fails on so many levels.
While Victor is no doubt a complicated character, viewers are hardly given any reason to like him. And while the concept of a sex addict who pokes every vagina American that he encounters might make for good story, it isn't a believable one. Victor is, at best, average-looking. He's not especially charming or suave. So the whole idea of Victor Mancini as Don Juan is tough to swallow.
Granted, the film is billed as a comedy, so that might be part of the joke. But that, too, is a problem because it means the joke wasn't funny enough in the first place. The film doesn't seem to know whether it's aiming for funny or tragic.
Palahniuk sees this as a positive thing. "Funny and tragic at the same time. I could not be happier with this film," he's said. It is, I think, an example of what Bush called "the soft bigotry of low expectations." It's certainly no "Fight Club," but it is a black eye.
