Very good movie, but best picture?

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2007)

This was a best picture winner, which was most likely repayment of an 'I owe you' to Scorsese for all of his great work over the last thirty years. Don't get me wrong. This is a very good movie with excellent dialogue delivered by a top-notch cast. The basic idea of the story is good and based on a Japanese film, but a couple of the characters presented in this version, just don't work for me and hurt the movie's credibility. Still a very good film with four more Oscars than I have.
Leonardo DiCaprio is great as Billy Costigan, a bad tempered trainee for the Boston State Police, with an attitude problem, when he is pulled out to go undercover in the Irish mob of Frank Costello, played by the master, Jack Nicholson. Now, Frankie Costello doesn't just count on all the blessed saints to keep his Irish ass safe. Just to be sure, he has his 'Statie's' detective in the form of the ambitious Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon proving himself as an excellent actor once again), who has been in Costello's pocket since he was old enough to take comic books as payment. Costigan's handlers are Capt. Queenan (Sheen) and Sgt Dingnam (Walhberg), whose character has the personality that would make it impossible to hold a job as anything, but a doorman at a skid row bar. Soon, both Costigan and Sullivan are getting pressured to find out who is giving info from the inside. They must both be idiots, however, since this doesn't seem like it should be that big of a challenge; particularly with Costigan. Let's see if I were a gangster who just found out that he has a cop in the pack and I have just recruited an ex-cop trainee, I don't think I'd be scratching my head for too long, before I shot the new guy to see if he bleeds blue. If this were not enough, they both end up chasing the same girl, Madeline (Farmiga), whose character also doesn't make sense. I don't buy her unfaithful psychiatrist role and find her relationship with the volatile Costigan without sufficient basis. Anyway, all this keeps the tension level high and is backed up by a great soundtrack.
So, maybe I have to stand alone on this one (what else is new?), but I say this is an enjoyable, but flawed movie, that got 'Best Picture' as a sympathy award for the great Scorsese. Its still worth seeing, and maybe even owning, but weren't they any good pictures that years that didn't have any 'what the hell?' moments?' (This work was first posted on realmoviereview.com)