Yet Another Novel by Chuck Palahniuk Finds New Life on the Silver Screen

Yet Another Novel by Chuck Palahniuk Finds New Life on the Silver Screen

On October 3, 2008, the long anticipated film directed by Clark Gregg, Choke, was released into theaters in Italy. Looking at the cast list, not a single actor is well known or even remotely famous, bringing a fresh array of newcomers to the industry. Critics have raved about the film calling it a clever mix of Gilligan’s Island and Groundhog Day, but in hell. The film is centered on a sex-addicted con man named Victor, whose mother’s hospital bills are left unpaid. His mother is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and due to this disease, she is unable to remember the secrets of Victor’s childhood he desperately wants to uncover. He feels it is his responsibility to pay these bills so he conjures up an infallible plan to raise the money. He plays on the sympathies of those who save him while he is choking to death. In other words, he goes to restaurants, pretends or forces himself to choke, and he then either sues the restaurant or makes the savior feel bad for him so they pay him. He initially has no interest in anything his mother has to offer so he just tries to keep her alive in the hospital but once he learns that she holds the identity of his true father in her mind, he teams up with his best friend Denny and his mother’s physician, Dr. Paige Marshall, to uncover the truth about his father before it is lost forever.

The screenplay was written by Clark Gregg who used the famed novel of the same title as the basis for his film. Choke is among Palahniuk’s most prestigious novels along with; Fight Club, Lullaby, and Haunted. There are no current plans for more film adaptations for any of his other novels, but judging on the run-away success of Fight Club and Choke, critics speculate seeing another Palahniuk film in the coming years.

Though not as good as Fight Club, Choke is a promising film and can potentially serve as the springboard needed for the up-an-coming stars to launch into success.