i really don't understand all the love for the departed around here. if scorcese was going to win an oscar for a movie he's made in the past ten years, it should have been for the aviator, a much more interesting and well-made movie. the departed seems (to me, at least) to have won best picture based on the fact that it was the least ugly of a row of lame ducks.
it's not hard to imagine how someone might enjoy casino royale more; expectations for departed were ludicrously high, and--as tvc mentioned, and as i mentioned in another thread concerning the flick--the plot of TD is a little too clever and cutesy for its own good. the concept "cop in with the criminals, criminal in with the cops" just feels like it was spawned in some college kid's creative writing composition notebook. granted, a lot of the dialogue was incredible, and damon/dicaprio do great jobs. but they can't save a fundamentally flawed story.
casino royale had only a few expectations on it, mostly just "be a step in the right direction and be entertaining." daniel craig alone ensured that both those criteria were met, and were someone to want to discuss the best performances of 2006, i could discuss craig's performance at greater length and with a lot more enthusiasm than i could nicholson, dicaprio, or damon (all of whom i love).
i'm not sure why you're crusading against this movie, shake, but it's a little misguided.