The term “Catch-22” has become a common phrase in the English language, meaning that no matter what you do, you are in a bind. This term comes from a satirical novel written by Joseph Heller that was published in 1961. The new mini-series, Catch-22, is based on this novel.
Catch-22 is not on Netflix, nor will it ever be. Catch-22 is a Hulu Original series.
Catch-22 premiered on Hulu on May 17, 2019, in the United States, with all 6 episodes being available at once. Internationally, it premiered on Channel 4 in the UK, Sky Italia in Italy, Canal+ in France, TVNZ in New Zealand, and Stan in Australia.
Catch-22 is about a bombardier in World War II named John Yossarian, who is played by Christopher Abbott. The army keeps increasing the number of missions that it requires of each man before he has completed his service. Yossarian wants to find a way to avoid his military assignments. The problem is that there is a bureaucratic rule called Catch-22. According to this rule, if a man makes a request to avoid service due to insanity, it is evidence of a rational mind, which makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty. The reason for this is that a concern for one’s safety in the face of real and immediate dangers is rational and sane, and to be considered insane, he must not have any such concern.
The screenplay was written by Luke Davies and David Michôd and directed by George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Ellen Kuras. George Clooney was also one of the Executive producers as well as one of the stars of the show. Other stars include Kyle Chandler, Hugh Laurie, and Daniel David Stewart.
According to most reviewers, this miniseries is not as good as the seminal novel, but it still tried to remain faithful to the original story. A reviewer from the Los Angeles Times who did not like the series had trouble with the fact that the miniseries tried to fix the timeline in the story. Apparently, in the novel, the story flipped around quite a bit between the past, present, and future. According to this reviewer, fixing the timeline ruined the story quite a bit. Still, most other reviewers did like it, and it received an aggregate score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you want to read the novel, it is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle editions. The 1970 film based on the book is also on Amazon Prime Video and is one of the shows included with a Prime Membership.
Similar Shows on Netflix
As discussed before, Catch-22 is a Hulu Original, and so it will never come to Netflix. There are some other shows available on Netflix, however. Some of them are:
- Monty Python’s Life of Brian – a movie about a man who was born in a stable in Judea whose fate keeps getting confused with another carpenter.
- War Machine – a Netflix film about a general whose job it is to wine an unpopular war and must deal with his own hubris.
Also Read: Is John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum On Netflix? Where To Stream, Similar Films