CHOKE's protagonist, Victor Mancini, shouldn't be a likable character. He's an unrepentant sex addict who has sex with the woman he's supposed to be sponsoring. He purposely chokes in restaurants so that rich patrons will save him and send him money. And he sometimes wishes that his mother, who suffers from dementia, would just get it over with and die. But because Victor is played--and played quite well--by Sam Rockwell (THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY), it's hard not to have a little sympathy for him. He spends his days working at a colonial tourist attraction with his best friend, Denny (Brad William Henke), incurring the wrath of his authenticity-craving boss (Clark Gregg, who also directed and wrote the film). His evenings are spent visiting his mother (Oscar winner Anjelica Huston) in a private hospital, but she mistakes her son for men in her past and wonders when Victor will visit. But young, pretty Dr. Paige Marshall (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN's Kelly Macdonald) has a radical idea about treatment that may bring his mother's mind back, and Victor's devotion to his mother--and a desire to sleep with Dr. Marshall--makes him eager to try.

CHOKE rivals some soft-core porn with its abundance of sex, nudity, and adult toys, but there's more here than just the shocking and the steamy. This dark comedy is based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, most famous for writing the book FIGHT CLUB. Like the adaptation of that novel, CHOKE is a surefire cult favorite that meditates on the themes of culture, religion, fathers, sexuality, and identity. It's a mean, misanthropic film at times, but similar to its protagonist, it's hard not to like. Gregg has made an assured directorial debut, and his script retains the blackly humorous tone of the novel.

DVD Features:

Region 1
NTSC
Keep Case
Dual Layer
Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
Dolby Surround - French, Spanish
Dolby Surround 5.1 - English
Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: Director/Writer/actor Clark Gregg and actor Sam Rockwell
Behind the Scenes: Gag Reel
Trailers: HAUNTING OF MOLLY HARTLEY, NOTORIOUS, DONNIE DARKO, GENTLEMEN BRONCOS, MAX PAYNE, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE, NOBEL SON
Deleted Scenes: With Optional Commentary by Writer/Director Clark Gregg and Sam Rockwell
Featurette:
1. "A Conversation with Clark Gregg and Chuck Palahniuk"
2. "My Name Is Victor, and I'm A Sex Addict"
3. "A Mother's Love"
4. "From the Los Angeles Film Festival"
5. "Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session"

Distributor Notes: A Knockout Comedy from the Author of FIGHT CLUB is now a must-own DVD!

Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Choke is a dark and wickedly funny joyride from the depths of sexual compulsion to the heights of the Second Coming! Beside working at a colonial reenactment theme park and trying to hook up with everything on two legs, sex addict Victor Mancini courts the love and money of complete strangers via a demented con that might just kill him. But first, Victor must save his dying, delusional mother (Angelica Houston) by seducing and impregnating her comely physician, a task easier said than done, in this gleefully twisted tale of dysfunction, salvation, love, and libido.

Source: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Sam Rockwell: Actor, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND
Anjelica Huston: American actress, THE GRIFTERS/THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS
Kelly MacDonald: Actress/"Trainspotting"
Brad Henke: Actor, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON (2004)
Jonah Bobo: Actor, AROUND THE BEND (2004)
Clark Gregg: American actor, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE

Clark Gregg: American actor, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE

Beau Flynn: 
Tripp Vinson: Producer, AFTER THE SUNSET (2004)
Johnathan Dorfman: Producer, JOSHUA (2007)
Temple Fennell: Producer

Clark Gregg: American actor, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE

Nathan Larson: Composer

"Sam Rockwell's Victor Mancini is still as sleazy and sad as the version Palahniuk originally penned, but Rockwell brings out a certain sympathy in the audience....Black-hearted romantics will find CHOKE easy to swallow."
3 stars out of 5 -- "[The film] utilises Palahniuk's droll dialogue whenever he can in a series of self-effacing voiceovers that star Sam Rockwell delivers with aplomb."
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Gregg has achieved something unique -- part Wes Anderson, part Mel Brooks -- and a rare American comedy that is simultaneously brainy and unafraid to be in touch with the human body."
"[Mr. Rockwell] distills a skeptical attitude of an under-40 everyman from the educated class: bored and cynical, concealing his hurt under layers of defiance, sarcasm and feigned indifference. Mr. Rockwell makes you see all the layers as well as feel the pain that lies beneath."
"CHOKE has a stylized synthetic zaniness...it builds its motifs into an amusing neurotic playground....It's an indelibly warped cartoon of lust and despair." -- Grade: B+