Forget this and go out and rent State of Grace instead.

Rating: 1/10 (12 May 2007)

First gripe, Jack Nicholson, an American-Irish mobster?? give me a break. Nicholson is way passed his sell-by, a miscast one dimensional performance, Nicholson is always Nicholson in my opinion (The Crossing Guard was the last movie of his that I enjoyed) most definitely not convincing as a psycho mobster. The other badly miscast role in my opinion was that of Wahlberg as a hard-nut cop, lame, an Oscar for that??? I can not fault the casting of DiCaprio or Damon, both were feasible, same can be said for the supporting cast. For the most part I did not find the plot engaging, though I enjoyed the ending, I can't say I anticipated it resolving in that manner. I found the constant non-diegetic mood music not only unnecessary but irritating, I really do not see why it was there, it did nothing to enhance the movie, it was simply cheesy, was that the intention? I really can not fathom how this work was awarded an Oscar for best movie, Scorsese is out of touch, passed his sell-by, just like Nicholson - they should just have given him (Scorsese) the life time achievement award and given the Oscar for Direction and Best movie to Babel (which, in terms of the cinematic art, was leagues above The Departed). I know there are people who enjoy this type of movie, most likely the same ones who have religiously followed the Sopranos since it's inception, but I just found it stale. Scorseses' days as a ground breaking film maker have long since passed, but if he can do no wrong in your eyes, you'll love this.