Clay Pigeons

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source: Clay Pigeons

Starts off well but only goes downhill from there. Down, down, down... The plot is outrageously far-fetched, illogical, and full of numerous mind-blowing coincidences. How is it, for example, that a suicidal person, a murdering *, and a mass murderer ALL happen to be involved with Phoenix? And this is just one of many bits of nonsense. Another one: how the hell did Vaughn know about all that happened?! Rather predictable, too; particularly in the last half-hour. Some silly details: Garofalo identifying killer through cigarette stub(!), deputy's helper falling asleep, and many others. (Can't be bothered to list them.) An insane bit of (mis)casting was to make Garofalo and FBI agent - and she has been on the force for 12 years!!! So when did she start?! At 18?! And 12 years doing what?? Shopping for generation X clothes? What's next, Drew Barrymore as the US President? Tom Cruise as a brilliant scientist? Matt Damon as a heterosexual? Vaughn, on the other hand, simply hams it up, as he always does. One of the few roles in which Phoenix isn't that bad.

I've now seen 'Clay Pigeons' three times and yet I'm still not totally sure how best to describe it, or know what exactly I've even watched! However, at least I must like it... whatever it is. It's a story which doesn't really fit easily into any particular genre. It's not really thrilling enough to be a thriller. It doesn't have any element of a 'who-dun-it' as every death is pretty much self explanatory and there's certainly no action in it. Perhaps the best category – if this IS even a category – is 'serial killer' film... as there are plenty of bodies piling up here and there. It's about a man – Clay, played by Joaquin Phoenix – who just seems to attract death and destruction all around him. He can't seem to go a day in his small American town without someone he knows getting killed – normally horribly. And this trend is set to get worse when he meets Lester, played by (a slim) Vince Vaughn, who also seems to just want to kill pretty much everyone in his way. What follows isn't your average story. There are no 'damsels in distress' who conveniently need to be rescued in the final act. And, talking of final acts, there isn't the traditional stand-off between hero and villain in some dramatic place, like the top of a high-rise building. Perhaps that's why the film has such an odd feel to it. It doesn't really conform to any sort of blueprint. You just follow the lives of these – murderous – characters and see where it takes you. If you like the sound of that, you should get something out of this film. It has the feel of a film-maker's early work where he's still allowed enough freedom not to conform to every Hollywood convention. However, a word of caution, if you're looking for 'relatable' characters then you probably won't find any here. All of them, even Clay, are hardly the sort of people you'd want to hang around with. But then that's why you probably won't mind seeing them bumped off one by one.

Not only was the story entertaining and somewhat suspenseful but the characters here are one of a kind. Vaughan's laugh is contagious. Yes, he is a killer but one can't help but like him. Not too many actors can pull that off. It took me a couple of times to realize who he got into the truck with at the end, and then the ending made more sense to me. Phoenix also did a superb job as Lester's "fishin' buddy", who just wants to live a normal life. Georgina Cates who plays Amanda does a superb job creating a character that you can't help but hate. Garofalo contributes her dry sense of humor as usual. Watch how she interracts with Barney. The many talented people in this film contribute to a well made product containing good humor, suspense, action and drama. Shooter fires nine out of ten bullets at this flick.

This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The only redeeming factor was Janeane Garofalo. The movie FINALLY picked up when she entered. It annoyed me that the town had a small town feel but they didn't act like a small town. And why did no one ever wonder where Lester had shown up from?

It's some time before Janeane Garofalo appears on screen, and it's not until then that the film becomes intermittently bearable. Only intermittently. What a bunch of unappealing, flat, poorly drawn characters! Lester is one of the most irritating people one could hope to meet, and maybe he's meant to be, but surely not in this way: he's meant to charm OTHER people, after all, yet it's hard to see how anyone could endure his presence for more than thirty seconds. Clay is remarkable as a central protagonist who spends most of the film doing absolutely nothing - the kind of person who responds to moral dilemmas by saying, "Yeah, whatever," although by giving even this description I may be reading too much into the script - and when more minor characters reveal some of their thoughts it actually comes as a bit of a shock - it was hard to think of them as having any. And what's with the title? Yes, obviously it has something to do with the fact that the central character is called "Clay", but I don't think anyone had a particular pun in mind. It makes as much sense as calling "The Third Man", say, "Lime Light". (On reflection, less sense.) A lazily conceived turkey with too many bad country-and-Western songs.

In a small town out west, a target practice outing with a friend kicks off a chain of bizarre events that lead a man to involvement with murder and an unsolicited alliance with a person of, shall we say, `questionable' character in `Clay Pigeons,' directed by David Dobkin. Joaquin Phoenix is Clay Birdwell, a regular guy whose lack of judgment and discretion catches up with him unexpectedly in this dark, maddening tale of morality and fate that is sometimes morose and disturbing, at other times darkly humorous, as it deftly examines the trappings of the tangled webs we humans weave. Clay has become mired in a moral dilemma from which there seems to be no escape, when he meets and is befriended by Lester Long (Vince Vaughn), a trucker passing through town one night. At a local bar, Lester observes that Clay doesn't exactly have a way with women; it gets Lester's attention, which leads to a game of pool and, later on, a casual fishing trip that, like the target practice outing, proves to be a life-altering experience for Clay. Phoenix is perfectly cast as Clay, ably conveying the effects of the dark quagmire into which he is cast by circumstances he is unable to control. His performance enables you to feel him sinking ever deeper as the story moves along, and to empathize with him and experience what he is going through. You realize that he understands his situation, and it becomes a matter of waiting to see if he will make the right decisions, regardless of the inevitable consequences. It creates a tension that makes you want to yell at the screen to tell him what to do. Vaughn is excellent as well as the cowboy trucker with the winning smile, robust laugh and a closet full of dark secrets. There's a menace behind the good-natured facade he puts on that becomes more pronounced as the events unfold. Pretty early on you know what this guy is all about, but somehow it only enhances the anxiety of the whole situation as it becomes a cat-and mouse game (with some unexpected twists) between Clay and Lester. Another notable performance comes from the charismatic Janeane Garofalo, who is surprisingly effective and credible as F.B.I. agent Dale Shelby, who comes to town when things take a turn and begin to heat up. It's a credit to her talent and versatility that she can pull this character off so well. The supporting cast includes Georgina Cates (Amanda), Scott Wilson (Sheriff Mooney), Vince Vieluf (Deputy Barney), and Monica Moench (Kimberly). There are moments in this movie that absolutely make you want to tear your hair out, a credit to the way Dobkin put this project together and delivered it. `Clay Pigeons' is a nail-biter that will keep you going right up to the end (which is terrific); Clay and Lester are characters you're going to remember, and just to make sure there's a brief, inspired reminder at the end of the credits (so stay with it all the way). Relatively overlooked during it's original release, this film should gain new life on video, and deservedly so; this is one you'll be glad you took a look at. I rate this one 9/10.

It was hard to for me to believe that, after shooting oneself in the leg, the shock and pain would allow for one to shoot himself in the chest. But, OK (I said to myself,) let's not be a nitpicker. Then, what is the witness to this event to do? Drive back to his friends house to ask his wife if she will be his alibi? Well, I would think he might take his buddy back to town, but filling station attendants are qualified to declare death, I guess. The town * that his buddy is married to is too concerned about her reputation to support him, as it turns out. Right. Wonder why he couldn't guess that and save himself a trip. Well, what would you do next? Of course, go back, put the body in the buddies truck and push it off a convenient cliff. Everyone knows that vehicles always explode when this is done, and this one does too, though the director teases us a little about it. Well, OK. What next? Well, the Sheriff doesn't have a medical exam done because the coroner is on vacation in that far off land, Wyoming (two or three hundred miles away.) He knew the guy was a drunk, so why question how he died? Add in that the Sheriff seems to be our hero's best friend, and one wonders why the idea that the death was a suicide would have been questioned. That's the first four scenes, if it ever began to make more sense after that, I still might have been able to buy-in. It didn't. In films like "Fargo" and "Pulp Fiction," the hilarity of grisly situations stem from the surprise that expected results of actions go astray. Not that the actions are hopelessly stupid to start with. In "Clay Pigeons," Joaquin Phoenix performs all these stupid acts as if he were James Bond, but Bond, at least, would let us in on the joke. Joaquin expects the audience to accept it as standard operating procedure. Not me.

Clay Pigeons is one of the odder films floating around out there, but it's a damn good time at the movies. It fits into a subgenre that I have lovingly dub as 'desert noir', other prime examples being Oliver Stone's U Turn and John Dahl's Red Rock West. Intrigue and murder abound under a sun soaked, parchment dry landscape in these types of films, always with a healthy helping of dark humour and unsettling, psychopathic characters running around, perpetually up to no good. Joaquin Phoenix (adding to the U Turn vibe) plays Clay, a good guy who seems to have a real problem with bad luck. He finds out his friend has killed himself, which seems to be the first swirl in a spooky spiral of trouble that veers towards him like a dust devil. Soon nosy FBI agent Dale Shelby (reliably perky Janeane Garofalo) comes to town, turning her attention towards him. Dan Mooney (ever great Scott Wilson stealing scenes with perched stealth) is Clay's friend and the town Sheriff, also on the lookout for clues. These two are the least of his worries though, as the worst is yet to come with the arrival of charming serial killer Lester Long (Vince Vaughn). This is my favourite Vince Vaughn performance because he shows his versatility with the brittle, lightning quick turns of personality injected into Lester. One minute he's your best buddy and a lovable loudmouth, the next a coiled viper with untold violence beneath the jovial exterior. They always say serial killers are charmers, and Vince Vaughn takes that sentiment, dances around you in circles with it and then proceeds to strangle you with it when you least expect it. So yeah. The bodies pile up and no one seems to be able to tie them to anyone. Lester treats everyone like his best friend until they're too comfortable to see the blind side coming, and poor Phoenix wanders around looking disshvelled and stressed out. It's good fun all the way through, doing a nice see-saw rhythm between quaint, cartoonish antics and a grim, scary turn of events. Underrated and more than worth your time.