Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Vince Vaughn, Georgina Cates, Scott Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, Phil Morris, Gregory Sporleder
Review: After hearing that his wife Amanda (Georgina Cates) has been sleeping with his best friend Clay (Joaquin Phoenix), Earl (Gregory Sporleder) kills himself. But before his death he makes sure that it looks as if Clay killed him. Now Clay is trying cover things up while keeping Amanda calm, but when a stranger called Lester Long (Vince Vaughn) comes to town the bodies start piling up...and it looks Clay might be the culprit.
Clay Pigeons is a prime example of the '90s independent film boom that came from the popularity and profitability of Quentin Tarantino's movies which spawned so many knock-offs. Here we have a twisted little movie that has an interesting premise, quirky characters, and dark humor, but ultimately doesn't quite work entirely. Joaquin Phoenix is a good actor and always interesting to watch, but here it's hard to sympathize with him. Clay is not the best guy and is not a reluctant hero. His lover Amanda is a horrendous character who's is instantly unlikable the moment she's on-screen and very scene after that. However, Vince Vaughn is having so much fun with his weird "country boy" character that he's the really star of the show. He's funny, charming, and then is scary and creepy. Janeane Garofalo's FBI agent has quite an entertaining arch while she investigates the serial killings. The bar scene between her and Vaughn is one of my favorite in the movie.
I'm not sure if Clay Pigeons is that great of a movie though. It's entertaining enough, but the tone kind of shifts around too much for my taste. It wants to be a dark comedy, a slasher movie, a relationship drama, and crime thriller, but it doesn't quite balance like I believe it was intended. Also, it doesn't particularly paint women in a very good light. And it's rather mean-spirited with the violence and the relationships between men and women. It does have some good scenes and funny dialogue, most involving Vaughn.
This movie is definitely of its time, oh, the '90s. If you like seeing Joaquin Phoenix looking stressed out for 1h 44mins and Vince Vaughn chewing the scenery as a country-western weirdo then give Clay Pigeons a shot!