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- HULU
- 2019
- HULU
- 2019
Summary Set during World War II, Air Force bombardier Yossarian (Christopher Abbott) and his fellow soldiers are faced with absurd bureaucratic rules and decisions by Colonel Cathcart (Kyle Chandler), Scheisskopf (George Clooney) and Major de Coverley (Hugh Laurie) in this miniseries based on Joseph Heller's novel of the same name.
- HULU
- 2019
- HULU
- 2019
Summary Set during World War II, Air Force bombardier Yossarian (Christopher Abbott) and his fellow soldiers are faced with absurd bureaucratic rules and decisions by Colonel Cathcart (Kyle Chandler), Scheisskopf (George Clooney) and Major de Coverley (Hugh Laurie) in this miniseries based on Joseph Heller's novel of the same name.
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 34 Critic Reviews
70
68% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
29% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 34 Critic Reviews
70
68% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
29% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Bringing this work to TV was a risky move, but the finished product is exceedingly well done and, at a time when government gobbledygook has trumped all previous notions of unbelievability, perhaps more urgent than anyone could have predicted.
Clooney’s adaptation is immediately impressive – visually deserving of a bigger than a laptop screen – with a cohesive, arid palette and shots ranging wildly in scope from resonant closeup to sweeping landscape. But it takes a couple of episodes to settle into the show’s polarizing rhythm, which is less a film-making issue than the high-level entry to the source material’s cunning conceit.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 37 User Ratings
6.7
65% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
19% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
16% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 37 User Ratings
6.7
65% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
19% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
16% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
Catch-22 might be the one of the most difficult novels in literary history to adapt into a movie or TV series. Actually calling this book "novel" is to undermine its merits. It is a "Postmodern masterpiece". I've read some comments about the director's and the screen-writer's inability to reflect the humor of the book. Actually there can be no other work (be it written or visual) that can reflect or equate the humor of Catch-22, which actually proves the genius of Joseph Heller.
The directors chose a more if not complete Aristotelian plot structure for the series. Actually I do not know how one can make a movie out of a collage. I guess you have to put the events into order to make your visual work more watchable, and this is successfully done by the director and the writer of the series. Also, I believe that this inadequacy in adapting a complex-structured literary work into a visual one shows the advantages of writing a literary work (which has its own difficulties in itself, but since it is not a literary blog I'll put this subject aside and write that this is as great an adaptation of the Joseph Heller's postmodern masterpiece as possible.
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SEASON 1
Surprisingly effective miniseries. ... Even if you haven't read the book or can't quite recall all the participants, it comes back to you, but it's still a challenge to differentiate everyone. Some fans will no doubt wish certain characters had bigger roles or might have minor irritations over how things were condensed, but overall the pacing is strong and the inclusion thorough.
Six hours may be an hour too many given the repetitive nature of the plot (the required mission count rises, then rises again and again) but star Christopher Abbott makes for a likeable, relatable Yossarian. It’s sometimes difficult to tell the supporting flyers apart but as the episodes unroll their personalities come through a bit more.
Good (and good-looking) production, but without contemporary relevance, urgency or edge.
Some bright spots aside—moments of inspired physical comedy from the erstwhile Dr. Doug Ross; a properly crackling translation of the promotion and closed-door policy of the fortunately named Major Major Major (Lewis Pullman)—settle instead for a tone that’s less about the maddening pointlessness of war and more about its bloody horrors, complete with mournful instrumental score.
All of the zany genius of Heller’s 1961 best-selling novel has been sapped from Hulu’s new six-episode adaptation, which begins streaming Friday, May 17. And the humor is nowhere to be found.
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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SEASON 1
This iteration of Catch-22 was beautifully shot, well acted, but the writing forgot the funny
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SEASON 1
If you have not read the book, this series may come across as a serviceable, lightweight, stand alone comedy drama. If you have read the book it can only be seen as a tragic failure, so inept and unadventurous as to be insulting to the viewer.
The central character in the book, Yossarian, is a gritty, conflicted, **** crazy antihero. This yossarian is a namby pamby, petulant narcissist. Only Milo Minderbinder is chosen out of the rest of the cast for even a half hearted attempt at development. The rest are fleeting ghosts with no suggestion of authenticity. The great set pieces from the novel, like Captain Blacks great Loyalty Oath Crusade were excised wholesale.
There are no words of mine which could begin to convey the awfulness of this adaptation. There is no sense that a war is happening at all, apart from the flying scenes. The madness, the fear, the tension are all absent, as is, for the most part, the comedy. Clooney layers on the nostalgia and sentimentality at every opportunity, which is unforgivable when adapting the most unsentimental book of its time.
A thousand curses on the head of George Clooney for this gloop, this tripe. May the dung of ten thousand camels fall upon him.
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SEASON 1
I gave this series two episodes, but I had to give up because it is so boring and doesn't capture the humor of the book. Clooney and his partner think they are so clever, but most of the stuff they do is pretentious garbage. I don't think they understand the tone of the book. Clooney shouldn't have let his partner direct the pilot OR star in it. Ugh.
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SEASON 1
