Road to Oscar: Chicago Critics Are Loopy for Departed

Stop me if you have heard this prattle before: The Chicago Film Critics Association on Thursday lauded Martin Scorsese's The Departed with honors for best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay, continuing the crime drama's veritable sweep of the pre-Oscar kudosfests. Likewise, Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker copped the top acting trophies, while Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) and Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) took supporting honors. Letters from Iwo Jima and An Inconvenient Truth won in the best foreign-language film and doc categories, while Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Ricky Bobby) was named most promising performer.