Dogma – Review

Dogma

with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Jason Mewes
Written and directed by Kevin Smith
by Michael McCarthy

Linda Fiorentino is Bethany, a Catholic who lost her faith when she lost her ability to bear children and subsequently went to work at an abortion clinic to, you know, flip off The Big G. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith are, as always, Jay and Silent Bob, now dubbed prophets, and they’re in the Midwest because John Hughes movies lead them to believe they’ll get laid there. Meanwhile, Chris Rock is Rufus, the 13th Apostle, left out of the Bible, he claims, because he’s Black. And all of the above must join forces to save the world from Loki and Bartleby (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck), a pair of angels who weren’t allowed back into Heaven after a dispute with The Big G many years ago.

The plot begins to unfold when Cardinal Glick (George Carlin) announces a “Catholicism WOW!” campaign and says it’s out with the crucifix and in with “Buddy Christ,” a winking Jesus who gives the thumbs-up sign! In an attempt to gain parishioners for his New Jersey church, the cardinal announces a plenary indulgence for anyone who enters the church on the day of its rededication ceremony. In other words, enter the church and you get a clean slate. A clean slate that would allow Loki and Bartleby back into Heaven, thus proving The Big G wrong and reversing everything He – er, She – has ever done, ending the world.

So, Bethany, Rufus, Jay and Silent Bob are on a mission from Wisconsin to Jersey to stop Loki and Bartleby from entering this church. Along the way they encounter a horned demon called Azrael (Jason Lee) and sexy Serendipity (Salma Hayek), inspiration herself (who also happens to be a stripper). Azrael wants Loki and Bartleby to enter that church. Serendipity does not. You can imagine the chaos that ensues in a film with a plot as satirical as this. If not, let me just say that it includes a demon made of shit. Yes, shit. Funny stuff.

I was disappointed when I first heard that Smith had cast Fiorentino as Bethany. When I’d read an early draft of the script, I pictured someone younger and spunkier. Furthermore, I’d seen Fiorentino in The Last Seduction, and a few other flicks, and she always struck me as being terribly dry. Then I saw her in Matthew Harrison’s Kicked in the Head and was impressed. Now I must declare her on a roll, because she impressed me even more in Dogma. Her character is the most grounded in reality, giving her the difficult job of being the one the audience relates to. And she brings warmth to the film in scene after scene. Ironically enough, her refusal to believe the crazy things that are happening during the first half hour is as amusing as what’s actually occurring. Without her fine job of playing it serious, some jokes would be lost entirely.

I’ll give Chris Rock credit for falling from the sky naked, but Jason Mewes and Smith himself deliver the film’s most amusing performances, though Jason Lee is almost as funny. Affleck and Damon have their amusing moments and their performances are great (especially Damon’s), but if you’re asking me who’s the funniest, it’s Jay, Silent Bob and the demon Azrael. (Not that anybody gives a bad performance, the acting and the script making it possible to overlook the less than majestic special effects.)

Love it or hate it, I don’t think anyone could claim that Dogma is unoriginal. Even if you can name 50 films that have certain elements of Dogma, you aren’t going to find one that’s remotely like it on whole. Quite frankly, most filmmakers wouldn’t have the nerve to make such a film. And if they did, they wouldn’t have the intelligence to make it as witty and interesting as Smith has. I grew up in a Catholic household and went to Catholic High School, and I was surprised by the clever observations of the Bible and Catholicism that he’s included. In the hands of another recovering Catholic, the script would likely have come out bitter and self-serving, but Smith’s Dogma isn’t that at all. (Though it is a forum for him to contemplate a few of the “issues” he has with his religion.) On the contrary, its message is that people should quit being so uptight about precisely those little things the characters persist in pursuing. Those little things teenagers harass their catechism teachers about. Smith recognizes how trivial they are and makes jokes of them so that others will recognize it, too. The church should be pleased.