Good Acting; Lackluster Writing, Could have been so much more interesting

Rating: 5/10 (4 October 2015)

All actors in Black Mass are really working it, and for the most part the acting is very good. However, if you are from Boston you will have a hard time not focusing on how incorrect the Boston accent is on just about everyone (except Connelly and Depp does okay with the Boston accent but he's mostly growling and being menacing rather than really trying to claim a true Boston accent. Kevin Bacon, on the other hand, can't even seem to land one single line with an authentic accent).
Anyway, the writing and story line are slow and I'm not sure anyone who isn't already familiar with the case of Whitey Bulger, the FBI, his brother Billy Bulger and the whole sordid scandal will come away with sufficient information or anything interesting here.
I kept asking Why? Why is James Whitey Bulger doing this - what has he done - what's the background here with the Bulger family - tell us more about Anjulo, give us more detail on his associates and the connection with his 2 brothers. The movie just gives us a very broad overview of a sad and fascinating criminal case. I think this story would be much better served by a miniseries rather than a film where time constraints seem to make it impossible to bring the fascinating details to light.
The kid who played Landry on Friday Night Lights (Jesse Plemons) does a great job. He's great in Breaking Bad and also great in Black Mass. I don't understand why Kevin Bacon and Adam Scott wanted to be in this. Depp and Joel Edgerton (FBI agent Connolly) do an excellent job with their characters. Benedict Cumberbath as William (Billy) Bulger is just silly; I've never seen Benedict be so awful and ill suited for a role. The female actors are just there to be wives and a step daughter/hooker, not much to note here.
Overall uninspired writing and boring story - zero entertainment value. With such a fascinating true story to tell I don't see why this happened.