Trading email with a friend today reminded me that I haven't written about The Departed since seeing it... Simply put, what a great, great movie. Absolutely a home run in every sense of the word. Easily my favorite film of the year along with Little Miss Sunshine.
This was Martin Scorsese just having fun, working in his wheelhouse (not yearning for an Oscar a la The Age of Innocence or The Aviator), with just a good old-fashion crime/mob movie wrapped in a rock solid cat-and-mouse puzzle.
On top of that, however, were two key pieces: First, the cast was incredible across the board. While it's easy to take Nicholson for granted, you have to take pause and appreciate what Leo brought to the table (constantly on the verge of losing it), Damon (watching his world crumbling but manipulating everything and keeping his cool), but even moreso... hats off to Alec Baldwin and specifically Mark Wahlberg, who had the line of the entire movie. When another cop asks who he is, he responds, "I'm the guy doing my job. You must be the other guy."
I can't wait to use that one at work.
Which brings me to key ingredient #2: the script is fantastic, and surprisingly, it's incredibly funny. The film is so intense that it needed the comic relief of the Boston boys breaking each other's balls, and the attacks on each other are so brutal that they're blisteringly funny.
To wit: here are my favorite lines from Wahlberg and Baldwin, and you can find the rest at IMDB.com. (Warning: Bad Language Ahead):
Mark Wahlberg's character (Dignam):
"I'm the guy doing my job. You must be the other guy."
"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe fuck yourself."
"You may play a tough guy for your gangster friends, but you don't get nothing past me, you lace-curtain Irish fucking pussy!"
"No, you don't know. Because if someone like you knew what we did, that would make us cunts. Are you calling us cunts?"
Alec Baldwin's character (Ellerby):
"I'm gonna go have a smoke right now. You want a smoke? You don't smoke, do ya, right? What are ya, one of those fitness freaks, huh? Go fuck yourself."
"Yes, those. I don't know what they are. You don't know what they are. Who gives a fuck?"
"Marriage is an important part of getting ahead. It lets people know you're not a homo. A married guy seems more stable. People see the ring, they think 'at least somebody can stand the son of a bitch.' Ladies see the ring, they know immediately that you must have some cash, and your cock must work."
Together:
"Go fuck yourself."
"I'm tired from fucking your wife."
"How is your mother?"
"Good. She's tired from fucking my father."
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