Until you’ve seen Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney swinging his body around like a monkey in military uniform, you haven’t seen good telly.
Gorgeous George usually plays the dashing leading man, the action hero, and even the suave and sophisticated drinker of Nespresso coffee.
But the comedy clown of the piece? Not so much.
As humourless, parade-obsessed training officer Scheisskopf (google translate that for a snigger) George added pure comedy gold to the much-talked about Catch-22.
He didn’t have much screen time. But as executive producer he had, of course, plenty of great lines.
And he squeezed every ounce of fun from them. That’s just one of the reasons I was blown away by the US drama, which aired on Channel 4 on Thursday. I expected a bad adaptation of Joseph Heller’s classic novel, a vanity project for Clooney and a general waste of time.
I was wrong.
Away from Clooney’s spitting, yelling commander, the action centres on Captain John “Yoyo” Yossarian – a US Air Force bombardier played by charismatic Christopher Abbott.
Yoyo desperately wants to get out of duty, go home, and avoid death.
All totally reasonable – but also nigh-on impossible.
Colonel Cathcart, played by Kyle Chandler, keeps raising the number of missions to complete, just because he can.
But there are plenty of likeable characters like Hugh Laurie ’s Major de Coverley, more interested in music, whiskey, golf and food than war, and Grant Heslov as straight-talking Doc Daneeka.
The Doc explains to Yoyo his predicament – the Catch-22 of the title.
The rule says a man can be discharged from the forces if he is considered insane, but he must request to leave. And only a sane man would ask.
“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” says Yoyo. As he battles the ridiculous military bureaucracy, it appears increasingly
unlikely he’ll get out of the war alive.
And every time he does something to get out of his duty, he inadvertently causes something bad to happen to someone else.
It shouldn’t be funny, but there’s lively dialogue and plenty to laugh about.
And just when you relax into the comedy, along comes tragedy.
One moment de Coverley is salivating over lamb chops – the next Yoyo is
scraping the blood from his dead pal off an aeroplane’s window.
So my apologies for doubting you, Mr Clooney. You’re not just a pretty face.
This darkly funny drama – which also shows his very good taste in music – has all the makings of an epic series.
Catch it while you can.
