Clay Pigeons

Clay Pigeons is a 1998 crime-comedy film written by Matt Healy and directed by David Dobkin. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Vince Vaughn, and Janeane Garofalo.

Plot
Clay Bidwell is a young man in a small town who witnesses his friend, Earl, kill himself because of the ongoing affair that Clay was having with the man's wife, Amanda. Feeling guilty, Clay now resists the widow when she presses him to continue with their affair as if nothing has happened.

Clay's problems worsen when he inadvertently befriends a serial killer named Lester Long, who murders the nagging widow in an attempt to "help" his "fishing buddy". Clay is horrified, but does not go to the police for fear of his role in Earl's suicide coming to light. FBI agent Dale Shelby and her partner Reynard come to town and zero in on Clay as their prime suspect.

Cast

 * Joaquin Phoenix as Clay Bidwell
 * Vince Vaughn as Lester Long
 * Janeane Garofalo as Agent Dale Shelby
 * Georgina Cates as Amanda
 * Gregory Sporleder as Earl
 * Phil Morris as Agent Reynard
 * Scott Wilson as Sheriff Dan Mooney
 * Vince Vieluf as Deputy Barney
 * Nikki Arlyn as Gloria Collins
 * Joseph D. Reitman as Glen
 * Ryan Christopher Mouritsen as Pizza Delivery Kid

Production
Clay Pigeons was developed under filmmakers Ridley and Tony Scott's company, Scott Free Productions.

Vaughn has described his character, Lester, as "a guy who isn’t necessarily from the West — that’s just an image he’s created of himself. Whatever his reality is — being badly hurt by women or whatever — he’s made it over, taking bits and pieces of things he’s seen in movies. He sees his life as a strange Western movie, with himself as the hero. He thinks he’s a sane person in an insane world."

Dobkin said of the characters, "I wanted everyone to be different than what they appear to be — the FBI agent who smokes pot, the small town sheriff who seems slow but is the one who figures [the murders] out in the end."

Reception
The film received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 62% based on reviews from 53 critics. On Metacritic the film has a score of 49/100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".