Film

Choke

Name: Choke
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2008
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Brad William Henke, Clark Gregg

Drama

Choke is Chuck Palahniuk's darkest comedy about a man who stages choking incidents to con strangers into paying his mother's medical bills. Sam Rockwell embodies the moral collapse with manic energy, swinging wildly between self-loathing, sex addiction, and genuine panic. It's grotesque and funny in the way only Palahniuk can manage—uncomfortable, smartly constructed, and weirdly humanizing despite its premise.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like a narrator who lies to you cheerfully and a comedy that goes somewhere ugly on purpose, the way Fight Club did for some readers, with Rockwell carrying the sly, self-sabotaging charm.

Skip it if you need likeable characters or a steady plot, since almost everyone here is compromised and the sex and grime come often enough to wear thin for some viewers.

What it asks of you: Ninety-two minutes that move briskly, but it keeps switching between sharp set pieces and long stretches of sulking, so stay patient with its uneven rhythm.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Happiness1998

Todd Solondz dissects suburban America with the same unflinching eye and bitter comedy. It finds humanity in damaged people doing terrible things, and never punches down or looks away.

But The subject matter is relentlessly bleak. If you need your films to affirm something good about people, this will feel like punishment.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas1998

Same chaotic energy and self-destructive protagonist. Gilliam captures the spiraling addict's perspective with visual flair and dark comedy that mirrors your own deterioration.

But It's visually exhausting and the plot is deliberately thin. Some find it style over substance; it rewards patience and a particular mindset.

Nurse Betty2000

A woman creates an elaborate delusion to escape her real life, using manipulation and performance to get what she needs. It shares Choke's dark warmth and con-artist logic.

But The tonal shifts between comedy and tragedy can feel uneven. It's gentler than you might expect, which some find either charming or unfocused.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Choke

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both films use performative deception—one man faking choking, one man building a fake world—as a way to examine loneliness and the impossibility of authentic connection.

Kaufman's film about a theater director building an elaborate world as escape operates on the same principle as Choke: elaborate performance becomes indistinguishable from reality. Both use their protagonist's self-destruction as the real story.

But It's three hours and willfully abstract. Many find it self-indulgent and impenetrable rather than profound.

Jesus' Son2000

Based on Denis Johnson's connected stories, it follows a damaged man drifting through the 1970s. Beautiful cinematography wraps around genuine ugliness and addiction without moralizing.

But It's episodic and meandering. No clear plot or resolution; it moves more like memory than narrative.

Secretary2002

Sexual compulsion as the engine of a relationship, played with real tenderness beneath the kink. Like Choke, it finds something almost sweet in dysfunction.

But The BDSM content will make some uncomfortable. Others find the power dynamic problematic no matter how consensually it's framed.

The Good Girl2002

Aniston as an ordinary person making terrible choices in small-town America. Sharp observation of how desperation and boredom drive people to self-sabotage.

But It's darker than most will expect from its cast. The ending offers no redemption, which some find nihilistic rather than honest.

Sleeping Dogs Lie2006

A woman keeps a devastating secret, and the film explores how honesty and shame intersect. Darkly funny and morally unsettling in the best way.

But It's deliberately provocative just to provoke, and the premise will offend before the execution can redeem it. Some will check out immediately.

Splendor1999

A woman sleeps with two men simultaneously and it's treated as neither tragedy nor comedy but as a fact of her life. Quietly subversive relationship drama.

But Very slow and deliberately undramatic. If you need plot momentum or clear stakes, you'll find it frustrating.

Requiem for a Dream2000

Both films treat addiction (sexual, pharmaceutical, or otherwise) as the central architecture of character. Neither judges; both show the logic of addiction from inside.

Aronofsky's four-person descent into addiction is shot and scored like a hallucinogenic horror film. It captures the specific hell of compulsion with technical brilliance and no mercy.

But It's genuinely traumatic to watch. The film's assault on your nervous system is intentional, and some viewers never recover from the final act.

The Comedy2012

Both feature charismatic men whose central tool is manipulation and performance. Both ask whether someone can be redeemed when they're fundamentally committed to self-destruction.

Tim Heidecker as a wealthy man with no purpose, drifting through pranks and cruelty. It's absurdist and confrontational about male entitlement and the void beneath performance.

But It's deliberately irritating. The 'joke' is that nothing matters and the protagonist learns nothing; if that sounds tedious, it will be.