Clay Pigeons

Pigeon droppings is more like it, until Janeane Garafalo makes her entrance as FBI Agent Shelby, who, investigating a series of killings, believes she has found her prime suspect in hapless sad sack Clay (Joaquin Phoenix). "You're sleeping with one victim, you're dating another, and you found (the body of) a third," she states. "Kind of a coincidence, wouldn't you say?" In this case, it's no coincidence. Poor Clay has been framed, first by his suicidal best friend, then by Amanda, his best friend's slutty wife with whom he has been having an affair, and finally by the sinisterly ingratiating Lester Long (Vince Vaughn, who played this psycho before reprising the role of Norman Bates). Garafalo is to this movie what Frances McDormand was to Fargo. Her dead-on deadpan delivery is a breath of fresh air, though not necessarily enough to warrant recommending. (K. Lee Benson)