A worthy but imperfect film. As with his previous efforts CLERKS, MALLRATS and CHASING AMY, writer-director Kevin Smith provides moments of brilliance, alongside inept and/or miscalculated elements that wouldn’t pass muster in a student film. In the former category is Smith’s crackling dialogue, which at its best puts Quentin Tarantino’s verbiage to shame; unfortunately, in DOGMA Smith tried incorporating an honest-to-goodness storyline, complete with ill-conceived and poorly choreographed action sequences.
… Smith’s crackling dialogue, which at its best puts Quentin Tarantino’s verbiage to shame…
Yet DOGMA, a very religious affair, is infamous for other reasons. Catholics screamed blasphemy whether they viewed it or not (the Catholic League’s William Donohue, who spent half a year protesting DOGMA, admitted he never bothered to actually sit through it), resulting in a furor whose likes hadn’t been seen since the August 1988 release of Martin Scorsese’s LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. DOGMA went on to gross a hefty $30 million during its November 1999 release, and has since faced another drama.
Catholics screamed blasphemy whether they viewed it or not (the Catholic League’s William Donohue, who spent half a year protesting DOGMA, admitted he never bothered to actually sit through it)…
The film is owned by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who supported Smith in his early years (as they did Quentin Tarantino) and purchased the film from its initial home at Disney. That deal precluded the streaming era and has lapsed, meaning its terms can’t be updated—and, given that the Weinstein name is now toxic in Hollywood, it’s doubtful that anyone will try to do so. Hence, as of mid-2022 DOGMA is unavailable to stream, and its early-aughts DVD releases are long out of print (with second-hand copies commanding obscenely high prices on eBay and Amazon).
Anyway: the film opens with an old man (Bud Cort) being severely beaten by three skateboard punks on a boardwalk in New Jersey. It’s there that a rogue cardinal (George Carlin) is planning on rededicating a church, offering everyone who turns up a plenary indulgence, or blanket forgiveness of one’s sins. The fallen angels Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), who’ve been exiled to Wisconsin, decide to travel to NJ and become human (by losing their wings) so they can undergo the promised indulgence, which they figure will give them a path back into heaven. In so doing, alas, they threaten to usurp God’s authority, and so negate all existence.
It’s up to Bethany (Linda Fiorentino), an Illinois based lapsed catholic with a distant connection to Jesus Christ, to make things right, in conjunction with the forgotten apostle Rufus (Chris Rock), the angelic muse Serendipity (Salma Hayek) and the not-so-dynamic duo (and connecting link with most of Kevin’s Smith’s other films) Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith). This entails a train ride to New Jersey, during which Bartleby and Loki attempt to distract our heroes, and an encounter with the Big G (Alanis Morrisette), who’s trapped in the Earthly form of the old man from the opening scene (because God is apparently a Skee Ball junkie). That scene’s skate punk attackers are “Stygian Triplets” serving the demon Azrael (Jason Lee), who’s assisting Bartleby and Loki.
Regarding the dialogue, which is quite plentiful, Smith presents a wonderfully lewd and intelligent dissection of Catholicism and its bewildering array of rules. If you (like me) have ever wondered if according to modern Catholic dogma you’ll actually go to Hell for eating meat on Fridays, or what it is that fallen angels do here on earth, and why it is that God never speaks directly to his human subjects, this film will help clarify these issues. Smith is a practicing Catholic who knows his theology, yet also includes plenty of dick and tit jokes (he seems especially preoccupied with the fact that angels have no sexual organs), with theological discussions frequently veering into gross-out comedy mode. It’s a mixture that, in keeping with the loopiness of the narrative, works better than you might think.
Smith presents a wonderfully lewd and intelligent dissection of Catholicism and its bewildering array of rules.
Where the film really runs into trouble is in the acting, which despite a talented cast is medium strength at best, and the less-than-polished filmmaking. Smith fans would probably counter that one doesn’t go to a Kevin Smith movie expecting cinematic prowess, but given the epic heft of the material, which incorporates violence and special effects, a more professional approach is called for than that utilized in Smith’s other, more intimate films.
DOGMA’S primary allure, in any event, is cerebral. It’s no wonder so many religiosos were up in arms over the film, as it accomplishes that most subversive of tasks: it inspires thought.
Vital Statistics
DOGMA
Lions Gate Films/View Askew
Director: Kevin Smith
Producer: Scott Mosier
Screenplay: Kevin Smith
Cinematography: Robert Yeoman
Editing: Scott Mosier, Kevin Smith
Cast: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Jason Lee, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Bud Cort, George Carlin, Brian Christopher O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Janeane Garofalo, Mark Joy, Guinevere Turner, Alanis Morrisette