Cliche script sinks engaging ensemble cast It always seems like an intellectual slag when somebody derides someone else's review of a movie as obviously "not getting it". No, I get THE YARDS, but what I don't get is why someone would write such a generic story and then somebody would spend some large amount of money to produce it. THE YARDS isn't bad. It's just boring, held together by good actors working with a script written by someone who paid TOO MUCH attention in scriptwriting class. Technically, it looks fantastic, but everyone in Hollywood now has the technology to make even the worst movie at least look good. So what's left? The lack of tight, non-padded script. Everything that happens, one can see coming from a mile away. I don't expect crime thrillers to be wholly original, but there is nothing that distinguishes this from any straight-to-video dreck that ripped off all of Scorsese's crime films and say for example, USUAL SUSPECTS, other than it actually got released in theatres. It obviously goes on way too long, by what I can honestly say is a good 25 to 30 minutes. Certain scenes are painfully unnecessary, just absolute filler. It would be a great film to teach by; have the class watch it, discuss what subplots could be avoided, where proper editing can add punch in places and speed up a lagging narrative. Recent examples of decent films within the same MEAN STREETS genre: BOONDOCK SAINTS and MONUMENT AVE. Not original, but engaging, localized crime thrillers that ENTERTAIN. Somewhere within THE YARDS is a good movie waiting to be rearranged into something solid, but as it stands, now suffers from its pedestrian excesses.