Buck Henry should be taken out and shot, if it were legal.

Rating: 1/10 (13 February 2009)

How is it possible to take ALL of the humour and heartfelt moments out of Catch 22? I know in every adaption of a book to film we expect things to go missing, but this?! It's a travesty! Where is Dunbar? Where is Chief White Halfoat? Where is Huple and his cat? Where is... on and on it goes, and not just missing characters but the portrayals of characters that do appear. Where are the things about these characters that make us care? Like the Chaplain's wife and children whose faces he is forgetting, Orr and his crab apples, horse chestnuts and rubber balls (the director gave me no reason to care that his plane had gone done), Major Major and his history of being Caleb or the story of him being beaten from the basketball court? I did not shed one tear watching this movie, I have shed thousands reading the book multiple times. Yossarian lacks much of the fear and neuroses he has in the book. Alan Arkin's bored statement of "I am the bombardier" sounded as though he had answered a call where someone asked if the bombardier was home. Nately's whore never falls asleep, Major De Coverly has no chance to kidnap random Italians or be injured by the old man (Due to Buck Henry's decision to exclude him).
The book is indescribably moving while being heartbreakingly funny, this movie does it no justice at all and should probably change its name to avoid the risk of contaminating Joseph Heller's masterpiece.
None of the relationships between characters are explained (unless you consider rank) so the back and forth, non linear style which works so well in the book becomes a mish mash of nonsensical imagery/plot line/aborted screenplay attempt which the fans of the film tell you to appreciate as "surrealism".
If you would truly like a suggestion, all I have to say is read the book.