The Yards

The Yards (2000)

  • 64% of critics liked it
    (95 reviews)

  • 51% of users liked it
    (8,482 ratings)

In this drama, a young man joins the family business without knowing that he's entering a world of danger and deceit. Hot-headed Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) has had some scrapes with the law and served time for a crime he didn't commit. Hoping to get his life back on track, he takes a job in… More

R,
Directed By
Written By
James Gray, Matt Reeves
Genres
Drama
In Theaters
Oct 20, 2000 Limited
Miramax Films

Critic Reviews

  • Todd McCarthy, Variety

    An On the Waterfront wannabe, directed with a heavy portentousness that smothers the drama in a thick sauce of self-importance.

  • Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

    I can't remember when a film so well-acted and so well-rendered visually was also so oppressive to sit through.

  • Geoff Andrew, Time Out

    A sensitive, intelligent and ambitious variation on the traditional going-straight story.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    It's that [moral] ambiguity that makes the film interesting.

  • Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

    After a point, The Yards crosses the line from portentously atmospheric to merely dolorous.

Read all 18 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Emil K


    I still very well remember when i first time saw The Yards back in 2000. It was a experience so emotionally devastating that it left me shaking and it still is. This is a rare film with raw power. A film which gets inside your flesh and bones. The Yards is a film about second chance,… More

  • Nicki M


    Bored the hell out of me. Was not that bad, I guess, if you like these type of crime family stories, but really wasn't in the mood to watch it and it failed to grab my attention. Dark and dingy in the filming, too. Good cast, acting is fine.

  • ♥˩ƳИИ &


    This movie started out a little slow, but it got interesting quickly enough. I am really starting to become an fan of Joaquin Phoenix. I enjoy watching him act. Really hope he decides to act again. Mark Wahlberg was great. Once the story gets going it holds your attention. Really… More

  • Bruce B


    Mark Wahlberg makes this movie rise to the top. After getting out of prison, he tries to stay clean but gets caught up in trouble cause by his cousin. All takes place in NYC subway abd train yards. Excellent story, little action but lots of suspense. 5 Stars is not enough,

  • Arash X


    An example of making a good movie with an unoriginal plot, Good perfs from Phoenix & Burstyn

Read all 9 featured audience ratings

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Cast

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