George Clooney is on a roll.

First of all, he has no time for your dumbf*ckery, and I can always get behind that.

Secondly, the man everyone thought would be the eternal bachelor seems to be happily married (maybe he could have a word with Leo DiCaprio?).

Lastly, his latest series, Catch-22, is earning rave reviews. The Telegraph gave the first episode (of six) four stars, and called the drama “both hilarious and heartbreaking”.

Yes, it’s based on the novel of the same name:

The experiences of a group of young American Air Force recruits flying bombing missions from an Italian island during the Second World War might not seem the most resonant subject for a British audience today, but it should be remembered that Heller’s book, like Jimi Hendrix, was  a Sixties phenomenon that Brits cottoned on to first…

Clooney has been sending himself up in Coen brothers’ movies for two decades, and he was really enjoying himself in this first episode. Channelling over-the-top menace and self-delusion, Clooney played Scheisskopf for farce and pulled it off. Hugh Laurie, too, as the eccentric Major de Coverley was a treat. While Abbott as YoYo was likeable, relatable and convincingly horrified by the experiences that awaited him in a dusty camp in the Mediterranean…

Ultimately, the first episode of Catch-22 succeeded because it was able to make the viewer care about its characters. It captured the mix of fear and fun that brought them close, then flung them beyond it into a rigged game that offered increasingly poor odds of survival, as the mission count went up. Its sense of loss and creeping madness was deftly woven into a narrative that was often laugh-out-loud funny.

You really had me at Hugh Laurie.

Dazzle us, George and company:

In the interest of honesty, it is worth noting that the Independent didn’t rave about the series, saying it “may leave you cold”, whilst the Guardian gave it three stars.

Make of that what you will.

[source:telegraph]