Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Despite portraying some real people (Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen, Nick Nolte as Bill Parker, and a few other minor characters) the movie is not historically accurate. It's best to treat it as what it is - a work of fiction that uses some real names and places as setting material.
I really like Emma Stone (did you know she's a natural blonde? Red suits her so well...) and I enjoyed her vampy look and her general performance. The huskiness of her voice was nice on this character. Sean Penn is always fun to see on screen and I love him as a bad guy. He had great flamboyance as Mickey Cohen. Nick Nolte had very little screen time as Bill Parker, but he never needed a lot of time to make an impression, which he does as the Chief of Police trying to clean up Cohen's operation.
Now to the titular Squad itself. Josh Brolin as John O'Mara was fantastic. He's believable as a veteran who never really left the way and he has the look for the role with his square jaw and reluctant smile. Since Men in Black 3, I think of him as "little Tommy Lee Jones", and this is the kind of roll Jones might have taken when he was younger. Ryan Gosling was...well, he was Ryan Gosling. So pretty. Looks aside, he gave a solid performance as Wooters, the playboy. Everyone in the Squad held their own, but my love falls to the spook. Giovanni Ribisi was awesome as the slightly nerdy wire tapper. Having worked with similar people, I also found him highly believable.
Finally, I have to give recognition to Mireille Enos as Connie, John O'Mara's wife. I liked Enos in Big Love and The Killing, so no surprise that I would like her here. We saw more range from her in this, I thought, since she (or her characters) tend to be a little stoic and guarded. She handled the role as a knowledgeable, but frustrated and concerned wife really well.
All in all, I enjoyed the movie. It suffered from some pacing problems, but it was pretty and fun, which is what I had expected it to be.
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