Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) is the ultimate ne’er-do-well: a sex addict who cruises support groups for hook-ups and feigns choking in upscale restaurants in order to be taken under the wings of wealthy strangers whom he can later hit up for cash.

Sam Rockwell is perfect as anti-charismatic antihero Victor — perhaps too perfect. He fits the part effortlessly, but never magnetizes as he did in “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” as the similarly dodgy but more flamboyant Chuck Barris

Anjelica Huston delivers the film’s standout performance as Victor’s mother — once a fearless anarchist with massive tresses of black hair, now feeble and incoherent after years of drug abuse. This juxtaposition, made through frequent flashbacks, provides “Choke” with its greatest moments of poignancy.

“Choke” wisely avoids copying the visual ostentation of its predecessor, “Fight Club.” Rather, sets are laid out in the gentle pastels of a rom-com. It’s this friendly and unassuming exterior that makes the film’s surplus of self-loathing and perversity bitingly hilarious.

For a film that revels in its own depravity, however, the sexual content is surprisingly PG-13. There’s no full nudity, and bodily fluids are avoided by the camera, which is quite obtrusive in the scenes that revolve around the expulsion of these fluids. I never thought I’d say this, but here’s hoping for an unrated cut on DVD.

The film also cheats a bit in its third act, furnishing quick and tidy solutions to the complications it so gleefully unspooled in the beginning.

“Choke” is certainly worth seeing. It’s hardly your average sex comedy.

— Zac Smith/The Daily

Rating: 3.5/5 stars