Choke on that.

Chuck Palahniuk's latest book-to-movie, Choke hit theaters in limited release today. I can't say that I was disappointed, though I wasn't impressed. I had very low expectations for this movie. Here's why. First of all, it was written (adapted) by Clark Gregg, a man with no directorial experience and an acting experience that comes from nothing other than the exact opposite of what Choke was. For those that have read Choke, it's a dark, twistedly humorous, disgusting (at times), pitiful though salacious story. This movie was not. Why Gregg chose to add unfunny scenes and modify/cut those that could have added so much is beyond anything that makes sense to me. Choke was 89 minutes. It could have easily been 120-130. There were so many elements left out that this movie seemed like a Bunny Movies (don't know what they are? Check 'em out.) version of the book.

There were scenes that made me think "Oh, come on, that's not how it would've looked!" but I suppose we all paint a different picture in our mind. Much of the acting took away a lot from what it could have been. Sam Rockwell, who played Victor, the sex crazed main character, did a fine job, as did Anjelica Huston. Everyone else seemed as though they weren't rightly picked and everyone of them seemed as though they didn't read the book. Kelly Macdonald for instance is a great actress, but the character in the novel just didn't seem to be the same character in the movie. This felt the same way for everyone except Sam Rockwell. This is a problem for book to movie adaptations, however. I'm not a casting director, but I do think it would be rather easy to get a poll up for possible actors/actresses to fill the parts of the characters and find out from a potential audience who would be the best fit. Make sense? It should.

The music for the movie was done by Radiohead. This was a definite plus. It went perfectly with the story, too bad the movie couldn't as well. I don't so much understand why Gregg was allowed to do this movie as he has 0 experience in the genre. Perhaps the next adaptation of Palahniuk's will go to someone more like David Fincher. Fight Club was a classic, Choke won't be remembered in another two months.