Leo intends to do right and take care of his weak hearted mama. ''You know I can't get into no trouble,'' he tells his best friend, Willie Gutierrez (Joaquin Phoenix), a shifty smoothie who promptly leads Leo to nothing but: Working for Leo's highly connected, highly compromised uncle Frank (James Caan) and his subway contracting business, Willie entices Leo to help sabotage a competitor one night in the subway yards. Things go very, very, very wrong.
''I'm gonna knock you right into the middle of next week,'' a toughie threatens, and it's just such ''middle of next week'' posturing that undoes Gray's deep dish story (cowritten with Matt Reeves). Phoenix entertains with his highly effective ''Gladiator'' combo of weakness and malice, Wahlberg recycles his tough but sweet repertoire, Caan has fun playing a big shot, and Charlize Theron tawks da tawk as Leo's somnambulantly sexy cousin (and Willie's girlfriend), Erica, but for what? For a slice of NYC made with imitation cheese? To quote Erica: ''Whaddayadooinheah?''
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