Choke is basically a story about a guy who is basically a really good guy who believes that he is a bad guy because that is what he was told daily and taught. He is a self-aware sex addict and con artist who may be incapable of having a relationship for very good reasons. Choke’s strengths: its cast and the narrative structure. Seriously, Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston as anyone in anything will get you a ton of bonus points in any movie. It artfully employs flashbacks to reveal the central character’s current progress or lack thereof. Choke’s weakness: I could see the twist for one character coming a mile away and could not believe that anyone in his right mind wouldn’t. Maybe that is the point-the central character hasn’t been in his right mind because of years of (unintentional) abuse and living an aberrant life, but sorry, I couldn’t buy it. I don’t think the movie is at fault-it probably comes from the source material, and it didn’t help that I remembered that the book was written by the author of Fight Club. I watch too many movies. Choke is incredibly graphic, but necessarily so. I’m not sure if it earned the philosophically happy ending and parts felt overlong. If you like the actors and Chuck Palahniuk, then see it otherwise skip it. Definitely skip it if you will react sadly to Community’s Britta stripping. I know there are a lot of diehard Clark Gregg fans-he directs and appears in Choke. Not sure what it says about him as an artist that he wanted to adapt this book as his directorial debut, but as far as directorial debuts go, Choke isn’t awful, but it isn’t a must see. Sound familiar?