CLAY PIGEONS (director: David Dobkin; screenwriter: Matt L. Healy; cinematographer:Eric Edwards; cast: Joaquin Phoenix (Clay Birdwell), Vince Vaughn (Lester Long), Janeane Garofalo (Dale Shelby), Georgina Cates (Amanda ), Gregory Sporleder (Earl), Scott Wilson (Sheriff Mooney), Vince Vieluf (Deputy Barney), Monica Moench (Kimberly), Phil Morris (Agent Reynard), Nikki Arlyn (Gloria), 1998)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
"Clay Pigeons" tried hard to be a pleasant comedy/suspense story about a serial killer and a character study of some small town denizens and the outsider FBI agents. It worked reasonably well for part of the film, as dead bodies came popping up unexpectedly in this sleepy Montana town, but then the story ran out of tricks and everything about the film fell apart and the psychopathic woman hating slasher, Lester Long (Vaughn), became a tiresome charge, his maniacal charm just wore out his welcome on screen, and the film's conclusion lacked tension or purpose and seemed to be a wasted effort, as it just simply ran out of gas after about an hour into it.
Since it's a story about clay pigeons- with the singular dictionary meaning for that slang term, a person in a situation where he can be taken advantage of by others- the clay pigeon is the town's auto mechanic, Clay Birdwell (Phoenix), considered by the locals to be a nice guy, who is out target shooting with his best friend Earl (Sporleder) when Earl confronts him with the news that his wife Amanda (Coates) told him she is making love to him, and Earl tells him I can't live with that. Earl comes up with this crazy idea of shooting himself in the leg and then killing himself, while framing it so that Clay would be accused of the crime and have to serve prison time. Clay tells this to the sexy Amanda, after Earl carries out his plan, as we see her dressed in a see- through-nightgown, wearing only red panties. But she tells Clay he's on his own, she wants no one to know about her relationship with him. Our flawed hero then tows Earl's pickup with him in it and has it go down a hill to explode, and when his friend, the unassuming Sheriff Mooney (Scott) comes to investigate, he fails to tell him the whole truth.
While playing a mean game of pool, in a place aptly named Doc Holiday's, Clay meets an enigmatic and garrulous cowboy, clad in full cowboy gear, including a fancy stetson. The cowboy, Lester Long, is a stranger in town and is impressed that Clay slapped Amanda when she tried to seduce him by the pool table. A friendship between the two develops, leading to a fishing expedition, where a woman's body, stabbed 7 times, is discovered floating in the water.
A fatal friendship also develops between Lester and Amanda, as she will later on be killed by the psychopath.
But, first the story gets more twisted and unbelievable when Clay refuses to see Amanda anymore and has sex with a waitress (Nikki) he picks-up. She is shot while in the middle of her sexual climax with him, by the jealous and deranged Amanda, knowing Clay is not in a position to squeal. He is forced to also dispose of this body, which he dumps in the local lake.
Into the picture comes the FBI, led by the wry-humored agent Dale Shelby (Janeane Garofalo) and the efficient-looking agent Reynard (Morris), who are looking at Clay as a possible serial killer. There have been seven other dead bodies turning up all over Montana that the FBI believes to be the work of one serial killer. What Garofalo brought to the film at this point, was some welcomed comic relief, much needed because this film was exhausted from all the contrivances and lack of adequate character study it provided. It was only through Garofolo's sense of black comedy, that the film was still bearable; and, at that, it was only barely bearable.
Clay is somewhat of an innocent, at least, as far as the murders go, but he certainly can't be commended for being a truthful person.
Everything gets resolved in the film's anticlimax, that mercifully ends in an arrest, though some 30 minutes too late, as far as I'm concerned. What might be likable about this film, to viewers not that discerning about plot or character study, is that this film was user friendly and brought about a hearty guffaw or two. None of the actors was bad, bad, but none were memorable. It's one of those films that is easily forgotten.
REVIEWED ON 11/19/99 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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