Cynical and bitterly cold... [Mike] Nichols and [Buck] Henry fail to make an anti-capitalist film. They have made their case so strong that it becomes an anti-human film.

Though the vertiginously absurdist logic of the book is hopelessly fractured, some of it does filter through (the mostly superb performances are a great help).

Nichols has done the same thing in "Catch-22" that he did in "The Graduate." He's given us a funny beginning, then switched tones and gone serious.

The late Alan Arkin enjoyed one of the all-time great "that guy" film careers, such a reliable utility player people forget his leading role in Mike Nichols' adaptation of the Joseph Heller novel.