Tuesday, March 17, 2009

THREE SENTENCE DVD REVIEW: CHOKE (***)

A ridiculous, self-reflexive black comedy with a zesty performance (what else is new?) from Sam Rockwell, Choke isn't as polished or as assured as Fight Club, the other Chuck Palahniuk novel to be adapted for the big screen. It's all very raunchy, very deranged, very absurd, often times very funny, but a little sloppy around the edges, probably due to the fact that first-time director Clark Gregg is a better actor than he is a helmer. Still, fans of dysfunctional humor will enjoy this half-smart, half-insane little flick that packs in enough sexual and societal deviance for three movies of its type.

3 comments:

Wayne said...

Looking forward to this one...on the way from Netflix.

It should be noted that, despite his sloppy film directing, Clark Gregg has put in some serious hours as a top-shelf TV director on "The Shield", "The Wire", and "Homicide"

Actionman said...

Yes -- big fan of Gregg the actor. He also has a stand-out bit-part in David Mamet's Spartan. And it's not that he's a terrible director -- just not on par with someone like Fincher, who wrung more juice out of another Palahniuk novel. But it's a fun little movie, I think you'll dig it.

Actionman said...

And yes, his directing work on The Shield was fantastic. I need to re-watch Homocide and FINALLY start The Wire from the begining.