James Gray’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed Little Odessa is a disappointing, slow-moving yawner.  While the writer/director manages to attract a bigger and better cast for The Yards, the story is dreadfully conventional, boring and predictable.

The Yards stars Mark Wahlberg (The Perfect Storm) as Leo Handler, who, as the film begins, has just been released from prison after serving 16 months on auto theft charges.  As Leo makes his way home to a party being thrown in his honor, we learn that he took the fall for a group of friends, led by Willie Gutierrez (Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator).

After spending over a year in the clink, Leo is eager to become a productive member of society and is promised a job at Electric Rail, a company managed by his step-uncle Frank (James Caan, The Way of the Gun).  As he learns the ropes from Willie, Leo quickly discovers that the New York City rail business is chock full of corruption.  While the bribes, threats and sabotage begin to weigh heavily on Leo’s conscience, he can’t do much about it because of the company’s close ties to his family.

Leo’s mom (Ellen Burstyn, Requiem For a Dream) has a weak heart that seems ready to burst at the mere whisper of trouble involving her recently liberated son.  As if that weren’t enough, Leo’s close relationship with his cousin Erica (Charlize Theron, Reindeer Games) begins to suffer.  Should Leo risk ratting out Willie and Frank (Erica’s fiancé and step-dad, respectively), or just be happy with his piles of dirty money that he knows could land him back in the pokey?  This dilemma is solved for him after an eventful evening at a Queens railyard.

The only interesting parts of The Yards deal with the specifics of the rail business corruption.  Electric Rail is worried that they’ll lose a major portion of their business because of new guaranteed minority contracts enforced by local politicians.  One Latino-owned company keeps trying to lure Willie to their side, but he continually turns his back on his own people.

Written by Gray and Matt Reeves (Under Siege 2, and a creator of Felicity), The Yards is poorly paced and its ending is completely unsurprising.  The acting is all quite even, but there’s only so much you can do with a flimsy script and what appears to be the lack of any direction.  Faye Dunaway (The Messenger) co-stars as Erica’s mother.

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