Choke (wannabe movie review)

As I mentioned in my last entry, Sam Rockwell is pretty much the bees knees and last night I finally got to see him in his new film, "Choke".

"Victor Mancini, a sex-addicted med-school dropout, who keeps his increasingly deranged mother, Ida, in an expensive private medical hospital by working days as a historical re-enactor at a Colonial Williamsburg theme park. At night, Victor runs a scam by deliberately choking in upscale restaurants to form parasitic relationships with the wealthy patrons who "save" him. When, in a rare lucid movement, Ida reveals that she has withheld the shocking truth of his father's identity, Victor enlists the aid of his best friend, Denny and his mother's beautiful attending physician, Dr. Paige Marshall, to solve the mystery before the truth of his possibly divine parentage is lost forever."

- I pulled the above synopsis from IMDB.com (I'm too lazy to summarize the movie myself. I start my review below)

In his first crack at directing/writing a film, actor Clark Gregg managed to bring most of Chuck Palahniuk's novel to the big screen with a few script stumbles here and there. However, with the help of a wonderful cast, that included Anjelica Houston and Kelly Macdonald (or that chick from Trainspotting and No Country for Old Men) and of course Sam Rockwell as Victor Mancini, Gregg managed to pull off an all round satisfactory adapatation.

With many first timer kudos to the director, I believe Sam Rockwell's performance made the movie work. Rockwell gave viewers a well balanced look at Victor and all the hang ups he contains. From the over the top, very realistic, choking scenes, to the raunchiest of sex scenes, Mr. Rockwell made it look seamless! However, I think, he was at his best in the dramatic exchanges between Anjelica Houston's character, Ida Mancinic, Victor Mancini's demented mother. In the end, "Choke" was proof that Sam Rockwell is one of the most underrated actors in show biz and he deserves much praise for his role as Victor.

Limited Release
As the end credits were rolling and the theater clearing, I over heard a person ask another, "who was that?" and the other replied "oh, that was Sam Rockwell".

What are you still doing here?! GO SEE IT!