Dearly Departed?

What a stinker of an Oscars, huh? Not the broadcast, per se, which was simultaneously more streamlined than usual yet somehow, paradoxically, still over-stuffed, but the awards themselves. Most minor statues were spread out among a handful of worthies. The big ones, however, mostly went to lesser of two evils hackwork. Scorsese has deserved the Best Director statue several times, but not for "The Departed," which could have been made by anyone. And Best Picture to "The Departed?" Again, it's mostly better than the competition - thank God neither "Babel" nor the utterly forgettable "Little Miss Sunshine" won - but one pundit put it just right when he claimed that the horribly miscast and awkwardly edited film's legacy will be as a cable TV staple, not as a film for the ages.

That early Jack Black/Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly song was pretty funny, though.