Clay Pigeons

A story of double-double-cross and serial killing in Montana. From the first shot the film engages and won't let go. Joaquin Phoenix, Janeane Garofalo and Vince Vaughn take us on a trip that's simultaneously entertaining and harrowing.

Great music by John Lurie (aka Lounge Lizard, Down by Law, etc.), and featuring oldies that carry the merciless momentum of the film. Ridley Scott co-produced.Cinematography is evocative of My Own Private Idaho (it was filmed in Utah).

Director David Dobkin has his own strong signature, particularly his deft pulling together of the characters and the light comedy, but there were also elements of Jarmusch and Van Sant. Fine cast and an excellent film.

I usually don't read many comments here at IMDb before I have seen a certain film, I only read a few. But before I saw "Clay Pigeons" I read them all and after having done so I didn't exactly expect much when I pushed "play" on the remote control. I'm not saying that that is the only reason why I liked this movie so much, because I really thought that it was a good film. Not a masterpiece of course, but the script is witty, the acting great, and the movie in itself is quite entertaining -- it's never boring. I really, really like Joaquin Phoenix, he is one of the best young actors around now, and he didn't disappoint me in this film -- far from it. He's quite brilliant. Vince Vaughn must have had a great time playing Lester Long, you can see that he is comfortable with his character and Vaughn is better than I'd ever expected, however, for me it's Phoenix's film. He truly is amazing. As for Janeane Garofalo, she's certainly not bad, but neither very good, but that's mainly because she's in the shadow of Vaughn and Phoenix. Overall, an entertaining and rather funny film, way better than I expected. (7/10)

Clay Pigeons is, to put it mildly, a very strange movie. That could be just me though, as this is the first dark comedy I've seen. Despite that I had fun watching it, from the first scene (which, by the way, gives you an awesome view of Joaquin Phoenix's beautiful eyes) up till the very last. Joaquin Phoenix, once again, delivered a memorable performance as Clay. He said his lines with conviction and the right amount of emotions at the right places. I don't know if Vince Vaughn was supposed to be hilarious but he cracked me up. I don't fancy Vince much but I like him in this movie. The plot is pretty unpredictable, and even though it doesn't grip your heart with tension it will maintain your interest until the very end cause you'll be dying to find out what happens to Clay.

Overall this film is definitely worth a watch.

Before striking gold by teaming with Vince Vaughn in last year's Wedding Crashers, director David Dobkin tabbed him for his debut Clay Pigeons. The movie had some buzz behind it upon its release in 1998, however I never got around to checking it out. A few months ago, while listening to my podcast of choice, the movie review show Cinecast (recently renamed as Filmspotting), Pigeons was brought back into my consciousness. It is a well-made effort—dark subject matter mixed with pitch black humor. This is vintage Vaughn who really lights up the screen with his infectious smile; even the high-pitched hyena laugh stays in tact as he must not have been asked to tone it down as it seems his more recent films have required. Joaquin Phoenix plays a man who seems to not be able to catch a break. How many times must one character take care of dead bodies that he hasn't even killed? Everyone has something to hold over him so that he must cover up the chaos happening in the town. Pigeons is shot well and nicely paced. It's a shame Dobkin seems to have forgone the edge this film contains for more general fare like Crashers and the forthcoming Vaughn vehicle Joe Claus. He shows some nice flare and hopefully will continue making entertaining movies.

Clay Pigeons is a great movie with an original plot, which is hard to come by these days. The acting by Joaquin Phoenix and Vince Vaughn was spectacular! I don't think that you could find better actors for these parts. They made the movie even better than it was, which says a lot. The movie also has a great ending that you wouldn't really expect. If you haven't seen this movie, you should really check it out! You won't regret it!