If serial killers and dead bodies are your idea of laughs, you might get a kick out of "Clay Pigeons." Otherwise, you'd be better off skipping this awful black comedy.
A half-baked and half-hearted revision of "Strangers on a Train," the film makes some lame stabs (forgive the pun) at storytelling, but even its off-kilter sense of humor can't cover up the fact that it runs out of steam in the opening scene and the story never really goes anywhere.
Actually, the most fun part of the whole film may be trying to identify which northern Utah communities are shown on the screen (among its more identifiable shooting locations are Brigham City, Deweyville and Logan) substituting for Montana.
Joaquin Phoenix stars as Clay, a gas station attendant who is forced to cover up his best friend's suicide — the man actually tried to frame him for the deed after he found out Clay was having an affair with his wife, Amanda (Georgina Cates).
Even worse, the hot-to-trot widow is threatening to spill the beans to Sheriff Mooney (Scott Wilson) and even has killed one of his prospective girlfriends.
Enter Lester Long (Vince Vaughn), a fast-talking cowboy who seems to be the answer to his prayers — he's actually a serial killer who's taken a liking to Amanda.
However, when other bodies start turning up, all the evidence points to Clay. And he can't rat out Lester because the man also knows his dark secret.
The film is a fairly inauspicious debut for director David Dobkin, a protege of Ridley Scott who shares his mentor's bad habit of selecting projects that are all style and no substance.
Of course, it doesn't help that he's working from first-time screenwriter Matt Healy's nearly witless script, which begins piling on the sex and violence once it runs out of lame one-liners.
And though Phoenix's character is supposed to be likable, he is instead quite irritating. (He could resolve the plot by simply doing the right thing.)
As Lester, Vaughn (who's also playing a killer in the upcoming "Psycho" remake) isn't much better, with his irksome stuttering laugh.
Also, it's pretty hard to enjoy a movie that gives Janeane Garofalo — who co-stars as an FBI agent pursuing Lester — so little to do.
"Clay Pigeons" is rated R for profanity, simulated sex, stabbings and other violent attacks, female nudity, use of vulgar slang and sexual terms, gore and simulated drug use.