'Yards' showcases mediocrity, Phoenix, Wahlberg, Caan

By Wilhelmina Mauritz

Daily Arts Writer

You know that when a movie chooses to start with a character making a speech to a group about how all the bad times are behind them, that most certainly that worse times are yet to come. Never was this truer than in "The Yards."

The movie begins with Leo (Mark Wahlberg) coming home from a 16-month stint in prison for auto theft. We are led to believe that he was in prison because he took the fall for his best friend Willie (Joaquin Phoenix from "Gladiator"). not told the whole story though, so we never know whether Leo actually did anything or not.

Leo is trying to make a fresh start in life and looks for a job with his uncle's railroad company. Leo is mentored by Willie who has become mysteriously rich and high profile since Leo went away.

It doesn't take long for Leo to notice that he is surrounded by shady dealings and crooked politicians and yet he just can't believe that anything illegal is going down. After growing up in what appears to be a hard Bronx neighborhood and with jail time behind him, his innocent viewpoint of these criminal ways seems curious.

We are supposed to feel empathy for Leo because he is trying to go straight and help out his ailing mother, yet I couldn't help thinking how stupid he was.

One awful thing happened after another making an easy out more and more impossible. Because of these circumstances, "The Yards" seemed longer than its 115 minute running time.

"The Yards" is by no means an original story. If you think of "The Firm" crossed with "Rounders" you pretty much have "The Yards." This is not the main problem with the movie, however.

"The Yards" went wrong when it tried to make itself original by filling an old storyline we've seen before with a few extra and absolutely ridiculous sub-plots. It never worked.

"The Yards" is supposed to be a movie about friendship and family and protecting these two precious bonds. Given almost every character in the movie was backstabbing and mean, it really made you wonder why these so-called bonds were all that important?

Despite a few scenes between Leo and his mother, played by Ellen Burstyn, that were very poignant and sincere as well as a heart wrenching scene between Leo and his aunt (Faye Dunaway) towards the end of the film, the relationships are largely implausible.

In an interview with Mark Wahlberg, the actor talked about how he didn't know if he were capable of playing the role of Leo because he was such a deep and powerful character.

Keeping that in mind while watching the movie, I was more than a little surprised to see that not only was the character of Leo nothing special but so was Wahlberg's acting.

The role did not seem a big stretch from many of the things Wahlberg has done before. The use of his puppy dog eyes and gentle, sincere voice were put to the max - but, his eyes were as hollow as his words. Wahlberg's characteristic monotone acting style could have worked but the strength required for his character and all the other missing pieces made it just a little too much of nothing for "The Yards."