It's Let Down By The Acting Style

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2005)

I've just returned from the user comments page on DOCTOR WHO ( 2005 ) which is a comparable page with this one on the film adaptation of Heller's CATCH 22 . Some people detest everything about the new version of the sci-fi show while some people can forgive the flaws since it's not meant to be a carbon copy clone of the 1963-89 show . And so it's the same with this film version . Some people obviously detest this Hollywood version of the anti war black comedy while some people can forgive the flaws
I for one have never read the acclaimed novel so I'm only judging the film on its own merits ( Interesting though in no way a shock to realise that the movie's most vocal critics are fans of the book ) but the one thing that is unlikable about the celluloid version of CATCH 22 is the acting style - It's overblown and cartoonish , comical and surreal . In fact it's like watching a live version cartoon a sort of WAIT TILL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME or THE SIMPSONS with battle scenes . Notice too that I didn't say " acting " but " acting style " I'm not really blaming the cast but the director Mike Nichols for this . The whole movie would have worked better if the comic characters had been played more straight while the serious characters had played up to the comic elements a bit more . As it is only Art Garfunkel's performance as Captain Nately seems suited to his character as is to a slightly lesser degree Jon Voight's Minderbender . Unfortunately everyone else in the cast seem confused as to how to approach their characters
Despite this flaw I can certainly understand where film got its reputation from . This is unrepentant cynicism about war . Imagine you'd departed as a draftee to Vietnam in 1969 with the last war film you'd seen at the cinema being THE GREEN BERETS and the next war movie you'd seen at the cinema being CATCH 22 . How the world in general and cinema in particular must have changed to the individual . As I previously said the directing is very heavy handed but in amongst there are very memorable scenes amongst the comic strip performances like Minderbender explaining a scam to his CO as a plane lies exploding on the runway or the final shocking scene involving Snowdon . Scenes like this stop the movie from being the disaster some people report it as . But the acting style stops it from also being the masterpiece some people claim it is