Choke

Possibly one of the funniest movies I’ve seen this year, Choke takes a stab at the crazy in all of us. The story, based on a novel by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, follows down-on-his-luck sex addict Victor (Sam Rockwell) from support group to bathroom quickie (both of the anonymous variety) to the mental institution where his mother resides. She never recognizes him, preferring instead to address him by the names of dead lawyers, but she has something important to tell him about where he comes from. The story of Victor’s complicated relationship with his mother (Anjelica Huston) is played out through short flashbacks in which the two share strange, seemingly fleeting adventures, including breaking into a zoo. With mom in the looney bin, Victor, who works in a colonial re-enactment camp, pays the bills by moonlighting as a choke artist (meaning, simply, that he goes to restaurants, forces himself to choke, and feeds off others’ sympathetic donations). This is just one small part of a hilariously oddball story that may make you question your own sanity, let alone that of the characters. Rated R