Best Adapted Screenplay

Man, I can’t believe Borat is here. One can easily question both the “adapted” and “screenplay” merits of this entry; the film’s plot has only a tenuous connection to its origins on Da Ali G Show, and the dialogue was largely improvised. Notes on a Scandal feels too much like a trashy TV movie, even if it is dressed up in British accents. I think Little Children should have been disqualified from this race for its blatant refusal to adapt to a visual medium. It is possibly the worst use of narration I have ever seen in a film, a failed attempt at satire in which the anonymous narrator explains events exactly as they occur onscreen, and spells out the subtext that the actors are perfectly capable of expressing on their own. I didn’t catch up to Children of Men, but its lack of precursor award honors doesn’t look good.

So The Departed remains comfortably in the lead. Monahan’s script is admired both for its hard-boiled dialogue and its cultural transformation from a Chinese film to an utterly Bostonian yarn. Expect to hear that funky Irish-Techno theme music after this envelope is opened.

Prediction & Personal Pick: The Departed