Heimlich at the Theater

This weekend, I went to see Choke, a movie based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same title. (I've reviewed a couple of his books here before -- and am about to start reading another -- but not this book in particular.)

As with all his stories, this one is a strange concoction of a number of ideas, characters, and settings. This time, it touches on working in an historical recreation camp, choking in public for the rush of love from a total stranger saving your life, sex addiction, and an already crazy mother suffering from increasing dementia in her old age. It actually all holds together pretty well within the short 90 minutes of the film. Nothing major jumped out in my mind as having been cut from the book, and what was on the screen felt like a pretty faithful adaptation of what I remembered.

The two major performances, from Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston, are rock solid. They're funny, compelling, entertaining, and serious, all in turn, when needed. They make the ride enjoyable.

But there is a price for a faithful adaptation of a book, and that is that is suffers from the weak ending the book had. To be honest, I'm not sure what ending I think the book should have had. It's such a strange blend of ideas pouring out one after another, nothing probably could have but a bow on the whole thing. The climax is ultimately about the main character finally "finding himself" (and in quite a memorable way), but it doesn't really pack the cathartic punch of the end of Fight Club; it just sort of ends.

And speaking of Fight Club, I feel the hand of David Fincher missing here. The director of this film does a capable enough job, and does either coax his actors in good performances or gets out of their way so they can provide them themselves. But the director is also pretty invisible here. Sometimes, a film is better for not having a director infuse his style into the proceedings unnecessarily, but I feel like a Chuck Palahniuk story really wants that.

Still, it's a lot of fun, even if not revelatory. But then again, who knows? I actually didn't like Fight Club very much when I saw it in the theater. But for some reason, I watched it again later on DVD, and then somehow it became one of my favorite movies. Perhaps there's a chance I'll think better of Choke later on?

I'm guessing probably not. But it's not bad. I give it a B-.