Review of Dogma (1999) by Taylor B — 29 Mar 2010

The 90's were Kevin Smith's winning streak. He debuted with an insanely cheap and insanely awesome indie-comedy that remains to be one of the most quotable and original comedies ever produced. Taking on a basic premise for a director who's basic mode is to write. Critics dismissed his second film, a studio production called Mallrats, which I really admire as most Smith fans do. Then there was the powerful Chasing Amy, that showed Smith wasn't a one trick pony. Then came Dogma. I'm trying to get the non-initiated in a time-frame to understand the reaction to this film.

A basic run-down of Dogma is that two once-banished angels, now stuck on Earth, have found a loophole to get back into heaven, however if said loophole is used it'd defy the law of god and negate all of existence leaving it a bizarre grouping of people assembled to stop the aforementioned angels. That's the simplest way of putting it, and it's much, much more complex then that. There is long Smith monologues that give back-story to the mythos of the Christian religion, and it's various events through it's long history. The film sparked a lot of controversy due to this (in particular the Catholic Church deemed this film to be "the work of the devil", being ironic since director/writer Kevin Smith is a Churchgoer). When I'm informed about all this mythos, I don't look at it like "Oh look, Smith is teaching me about this religion", I look at it like people do with Lord of The Rings. That's not an attack on religion, that's my perspective and my particular reason why none of it ever offends me.

We are taken through this journey via an abortion clinic worker named Bethany, played by Linda Fiorentino. The character has a captivating background story and constantly fights with the "faith", and is the perfect way to bridge us along the thick-plotted story, she has interesting monologues concerning religion but there is one big problem: Linda Fiorentino is terrible in this role. In that thought, I haven't seen her anywhere else but she goes through the film with such a droll-manner, and is so emotionless. How do you get handed Kevin Smith dialogue and manage to make it sound boring? That always blows me away.

In lighter news, the supporting cast is excellent. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck play the earlier mentioned angels, and everything they have to do is interesting. Smith generally writes scenes for comedy in which people pick apart pop-culture or dramatic tension, generally about friendship or love. But this changes when the angels go to "Mooby Headquarters" (the corporate room to a fictionalized "Burger King" or "McDonalds") and deliver a very long, and cold monologue before executing them. It's as close as Kevin Smith has gotten to writing a really dark scene, and is it dark? Yes. Other notable performers include Alan Rickman who is "The voice of God", as in an angel who speaks for God herself ("Human beings have neither the aural nor the psychological capacity to withstand the awesome power of God's true voice. Were you to hear it, your mind would cave in and your heart would explode within your chest. We went through five Adams before we figured that one out"). Jason Lee plays a demon named Azrael, who only has a few scenes but in this mere minutes manages to deliver an enjoyable and entirely interesting film. Chris Rock pops up as Rufus, the third apostle, in the only Dogma subplot that really doesn't work. For a Smith film, Dogma has a massive plot with dozens of threads running about, one of which involves a black man named Rufus who claims to be the third apostle, written out of the bible because he's black. I understand it's meant to point out how the bible was written and anything the pen-holder didn't like, or care for, could easily be written out. It's a good idea, but the way to translate that idea doesn't hold up.

Dogma is set in Kevin Smith's universe, which consists of "Clerks", "Mallrats", "Chasing Amy", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and "Clerks II". They're all connected via references to one another, but in particular are the re-occurrence of the characters Jay and Silent Bob. Here, apart from their own film, play a massive part to the story. I won't reveal what exactly they have to do with the plot, but it's a great bit of fun. Also, one of my favorite comedians, George Carlin shows up as a Cardinal who is allowed a few of us own Smith monologues and is great.

Dogma is in a way a critique of the Catholic religion, but it presents a lot of fantastical elements that allow it to not be taken seriously. For example: the shit demon. A demon created from the feces of the men who were crucified at Christ Hill. It's a really funny bit, but it's also a great usage of mythos. Kevin Smith also frequently brings up this to religious radicals who challenge the film very often ("You're getting mad at a film that has a rubber poop monster in it!"). I think Dogma is a really underrated film, it's actually a fairly complex film with a lot of great ideas.

Kevin Smith's fourth film is pretty astounding, in my eyes. It does have a few weak plots, but they mostly are weak because they're grouped with astoundingly good plots. I think this film would be far better if it had a different lead, because Bethany is featured so heavily in this film and she's played so horribly, it dies down her scenes, which she shares with other great performers. I really dig this film and honestly, it's not for everyone. Catholics may take offensive to the film, but they should keep in mind it's just a flick. I don't review it as a take on religion, I review it as a fantasy film. A fantasy film that manages to balance the bloody serious, the hysterically funny, the enlightening and violence, that is Dogma.