The movie centers on Jack Nicholson’s mob boss and the two cops doing double agent duty, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. Leo is from Southie but trying to shirk that by joining the cops, specifically the Massachusetts State Police. Matt is also joining the cops, by way of Southie, but to help Jack from the inside.
State and local police agencies are trying to stop Jack and the Gang from continuing their evil ways of fucking, killing, stealing and the like. Leo is recruited to go way undercover, complete with a stint in the pokey and facial hair for extra street cred. There’s a pretty hilarious seen with Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, with Mark setting the record for the most F-bombs in a three-minute scene. Ever.
Matt is the hardest character to believe. He’s got this perfect record, some hot shit supercop, so he’s assigned to some multi-jurisdictional task force, right out of the academy. Which is so stupid: Sheen and Marky Mark know the last time Leo went to a Sox game, but not a damn thing about Damon, who’s been Nicholson’s bitch since day one. Anyway. Matt spends most of his days in meetings with FBI and other Staties, led by Alec Baldwin.
The Staties have an awful time trying to catch Jack committing a crime. Jack can't eat a ham sandwich without committing four felonies, but somehow the Staties never get enough evidence or always find him sans smoking gun. Convenient for Jack.
Things come to a head as they are want to do, with everyone trying to solve the promo “Who’s the Rat?” mystery and save their own asses. The Departed is good, messy, bad guy fun. In fact it’s surprising how Scorsese really brought the funny, and the movie is in the vein of Goodfellas, and part dark comedy as well as crime drama.
Smells like: Oscar nods, gunpowder, testosterone.