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Article: `Clay Pigeons' doesn't fly; a bargain-basement `Fargo'.(VARIETY)(Review) (movie review)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- October 2, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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`Clay Pigeons" could be subtitled "Fargo Lite." It embraces the same dark comedy as the Coen brothers' 1996 hit: off-kilter humor that borders on semi-psychotic. It has the same self-aware approach. But it's not as clever as the Oscar-winning, made-in-Minnesota film, a criticism that applies to its story as well as its characters.
While "Fargo" built to ever-greater levels of dark farce, "Clay Pigeons" starts strong and then stalls. First-time filmmaker David Dobkin loses points for directing down to the audience by repeating himself, apparently assuming we weren't paying attention the first time.
The location is a dusty, backwater Montana town. Clay ...