Released 1998
Stars Joaquin Phoenix, Vince Vaughn, Janeane Garofalo, Georgina Cates
Directed by David Dobkin

Things start off badly for Clay Bidwell (Joaquin Phoenix). He has a good life in the small town of Mercer, Montana until he goes out shooting with his best buddy, Earl. Clay has been having an affair with Amanda, his friend's wife, and, as a form of revenge, Earl commits suicide and frames Clay for murder. Unable to get any help from Amanda, Clay is forced to dispose of Earl's body. But the cover-up is not perfect, and it leads to another death and another corpse. Meanwhile, a drifter by the name of Lester Long (Vince Vaughn) wanders into town, and he and Clay bond over a few beers and a game or two of pool. Soon, they're on a fishing trip together, and, instead of catching the big one, they find a plastic-wrapped body. Soon, the FBI, led by the cynical agent Dale Shelby (Janeane Garofalo), are in town, looking at Clay as a possible serial killer.

For a while, Clay Pigeons looks like it's going to be a humdinger of a mystery/thriller, the kind of thing that Hitchcock would be proud of. Then it all falls apart. This is one of those motion pictures where the director (David Dobkin, in his feature debut) and the writer are so concerned about developing a clever, serpentine plot that they forget that there has to be a credible ending. So, what starts out as a top-notch suspense film eventually fizzles. The final half-hour contains enough contrivances and holes to challenge even the most generous movie-goer's suspension of disbelief.

Summary by James Berardinelli