Choke

I’ve tried to read the novels of Chuck Palahniuk, I find them cold and pretentious, like the author is talking down to his readers of the state of their society, a superiority that David Fincher managed to capture in his film of Fight Club, admittedly I have never read the novel of Choke, but from the few novels of Palahniuk I have read I expected more of the same, for this reason I was hesitant to see the film adaptation, apparently not hesitant enough, the film doesn’t capture the assumed voice of Palahniuk, instead underlying almost everything with sweetness and soppiness, I enjoyed the film mainly due to the performances, I find Sam Rockwell to be a fine actor, and from this film Rockwell was apparently born to play a man-in-crisis Palahniuk-style protagonist, especially one with a sex addiction, this film is evidence that some actors should be type-cast, similarly Angelica Houston lays on a delightful comical madness, a skill she has become known for, highlighted in a commercial before the film for mobile phones, Houston appears as herself, slightly mad and perceived by those around her as mad, Kelly Macdonald delivers the goods as the sweet counterpoint to a morally questionable protagonist (a la No Country For Old Men), while I wish for Palahniuk to shed his expected pretentious voice on the pages of the novels, there is something nice in seeing good actors meeting our expectations, even if we have seen them do it so many times before.