Clay Pigeons

Clay Bidwell is a young man living in the small Montana town of Mercer, where he works at a gas station and carries on an affair with Amanda, the wife of his friend Earl. When Earl learns of the relationship, he kills himself in a way that makes Clay look responsible. Wracked with guilt, Clay tries to pull away from Amanda, but she keeps pressing him to continue. Around the same time, he strikes up a friendship with Lester Long, a talkative stranger he meets in a bar, unaware of what Lester really is. When women connected to Clay begin turning up dead, FBI agent Dale Shelby arrives to investigate, and Clay finds himself the prime suspect.

The film is the first feature directed by David Dobkin, who went on to make Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers and later films including The Judge and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Joaquin Phoenix plays Clay, with Vince Vaughn as Lester Long, Janeane Garofalo as Agent Shelby, Scott Wilson as Sheriff Dan Mooney, and Gregory Sporleder and Georgina Cates as Earl and Amanda. Matthew L. Healy wrote the screenplay, and Ridley Scott was among the producers.

Made for about 8 million dollars, the film took in roughly 2 million worldwide. On IMDb and TMDB it holds a rating of 6.2 from 143 votes, and it also carries a critics' rating of 6.2 from 54 reviews, so audiences and critics landed in much the same place.