Scorcese gets his Oscar - for this?

Rating: 4/10 (1 March 2007)

The Departed not a horrible film and that's the best thing that I can say about it. It was instantly forgettable. As soon as it ended, I felt about the same as if I had just watched a rerun of "Family Ties." It was a sterile, by the numbers film that featured phoned-in performances from everyone. DiCaprio was probably the best but there was not much there with him either. Jack was just unshaven, ugly old Jack being Jack the mobster. I didn't get much depth from the character, at the most I felt that he had been doing what he was doing for so long that he was locked into it and didn't much care anymore. But the whole plot line of the two kids from Costello's neighborhood and the paths that they took - and the initial uncertainty of which was which - was very much underplayed and subtle to the point of not being the strong plot device that it should have been. As far as Matt Damon, I can only say that he sucked. Sorry but that's all that I can think of to say. Bland, boring, a true flatliner. He and Affleck made their names on one overrated film and now they are in my opinion a major factor for the dullness of Hollywood these days. I wish that "Good Will Hunting" had been mistakenly put into the shredder before anyone ever saw it, but what are you gonna do...
This is a by the numbers Scorcese film without the fire. It's no "Goodfellas" - it's nowhere near being in the same conversation otherwise. Where Goodfellas was chock full of memorable lines, and left a dramatic impression on you after the film ended that lasted and lasted, this film has not one line that I can recall, hardly a scene, and left no impression - in fact it was overlong in its dullness and I was glad when it was over. And unlike the riveting Goodfellas, it took me three separate viewings to get through this.
I think that Hollywood felt that it owed the guy his gold piece - it did - and wanted to get it to him before he had to get an Irving Thalberg. Feel free to skip this one, secure in the knowledge that you are not missing anything.