Beneath The Outer Shell

i had been waiting for this one for a long time. after Fight Club, i began to do something i had never really enjoyed in life. read. Fight Club changed my life in the sense that i was able to find something that i truly loved reading about. insane people with insane ideas living in a very real world we called life. sure, Fight Club was a little "out there" with the ideas...but there are people who feel like their life is meaningless, that their life is mundane, that their life needs something more. i can relate to the basic core beliefs of every Chuck Palahniuk character.

and after 5 years of becoming obsessed with Chuck Palahniuk books...my favorite novel of his has come to a movie theatre near me.

i had lots of anxiety. i have been disappointed so many times in my life with various movies. most recently, with Indiana Jones 4. with Choke, i was worried i was setting myself up for the same type of disaster.

and i can happily say, that after 2 viewings...i had nothing to worry about.

First off, you need to know that Choke is an independent movie, with a first time director (Clark Gregg) along with a very tight budget. in comparison, Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, was a BIG movie if you recall.

Choke is about a sex addict, a con man, and a lonely soul trying to find out about who he is and why he is...these are all the same person, and no, that's not a clue about the ending (like the ending to Fight Club). it's completely obscene, vulgar, and offensive, yet sweet, beautiful, deep, and meaningful at so many levels.

i have to be brief when describing this movie. from start to finish, it is filled with such emotion that you will cry, you will laugh, you will feel uncomfortable, and you will simply...feel. i left the theatre with tears in my eyes and a big fat smile on my face...both times. the actors chosen, the acting itself, the pace of the movie, the script, everything...it all worked so well. Choke succeeds at every level a movie truly "needs" to succeed in. does this mean that Choke is a "perfect" movie? no, of course not...but it comes pretty damn close in my book. seriously, the only "bad" thing i have found about the movie is that i wish it took it's time a little more, that more of my favorite quotes from the book were there, and that it was just a little longer. it's about 90 minutes. Fight Club was over 2 1/2 hours (like most David Fincher movies). side note: i always thought that Fincher should be doing EVERY Chuck Palahniuk book that makes it's way to the screen, but Clark Gregg nailed this difficult task.

but ya know...i think the truth is...a movie that leaves you wanting more just may be THE key ingredient to a "perfect" movie. so with that...i would have to say, that given the circumstances, the nearly impossible subject matter of the novel to dance around without getting an X-rating, and the budget...Choke is as about "perfect" as it could have been.