Dogma
Cast: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino
Writer and Director: Kevin Smith
Sometime in the year 1990, a young guy named Kevin went to watch a little indie film called Slacker. Made in Austin Texas featuring a cast of just residents and scenes of just people talking with no big central narrative. This feature from first time director, Richard Linklater was a huge influence on Kevin. Like Dave Bowman touching the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kevin Smith was so blown away that a movie could be made with just your friends. He got a bunch of credit cards, sold his comic books and made one of the most iconic films of 1994, Clerks. ( I promise, there is a review of Dogma in this article)
The reaction to his debut movie was huge. Miramax which at the time was being acquired by Disney allowed Kevin Smith to be put on the radar for other studios. His second feature,Mallrats was released by Universal and although at the time of it’s release was a critical and box failure. It has gone on to achieve cult status. His third feature, Chasing Amy would have a mixed reception from critics and the public. While his other movies are purely comedic films. This one would show that Kevin Smith has range and can direct dramatic projects. Let’s take into account that Kevin’s idol, Richard Linklater has made both a studio film (The Newton Boys which did bad with critics) and an indie feature( with Before Sunrise which went on to create one of the best film trilogies of all time) which I'm sure helped influence him a great deal.
Smith’s fourth movie(Dogma) would be different from his other productions. Yes it would feature the return of his regular actors like Ben Affleck(Mallrats) Jason Lee(Chasing Amy) and Jason Mewes(Clerks) But it would introduce more established actors like Linda Fiorentino(The Last Seduction), Chris Rock( CB4) Alan Rickman(Galaxy Quest), Matt Damon(Talented Mr. Ripley) and Salma Hayek(Desperado)
The story follows Bartleby and Loki(Affleck and Damon) two renegade angels who find a loophole in Catholic dogma that will allow them to re enter heaven. Bethany(Fiorentino) has been giving the task by the highest choir of Angel Metaron(Rickman) to stop them. But don’t worry, she won’t be alone. She will be joined by two prophets to help her, Jay(Mewes) and Silent Bob(Kevin Smith).
Having recurring characters from his other films makes Dogma part of a franchise. Which is kind of cool and a good way to market your films especially for a director like Smith. His View Askew universe certainly brought fourth a lot of fans to his films. However you can clearly watch this one if you have no prior knowledge of Jay and Silent Bob. They serve as the film’s comedic duo and while some may take offense with Jay’s somewhat sexist attitude. The character is never perceived to be harmful. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have great on screen chemistry together. Makes sense when just two years prior, they would win best screenplay at the Academy Awards for writing, Good Will Hunting. Linda Fiorentino as Bethany was good and although later Kevin Smith would admit that he wish he casted Janeane Garofalo in the lead role. I really liked her performance in this. This was the first movie that really showed Alan Rickman was funny. At the time, many just knew him as the head villain in Die Hard and it was nice to see him in a role that subverts that expectation.
For years, Dogma could not get a proper re release to 4k because sex predator and super A__hole, Harvey Weinstein held the rights to it and would not let it go. It was released theatrically from Lionsgate but since they did not have any big DVD distribution at the time. The DVD release was done by Coulmbia Tri Star which later became Sony. After Weinstein was put in jail, Smith was finally able to buy back the rights and has released it to play in theaters across the world.
Seeing Dogma back on the big screen was a huge thrill for me. The soundtrack was crisp, the images looked great. Some of the jokes still worked while some not so much. There is a great Q & A from Smith at the end of the movie that I hope people will stay after to watch it. The one message I loved most when watching it a second time is a speech that Chris Rock’s character gives to Bethany and that is the whole nature of beliefs vs Ideas. He says that ideas can be changed but it’s harder to change beliefs. People have killed for beliefs or died for them. In this world where it seems that people only think one way or another. It’s nice to know that maybe we can learn to accept others better than we do. That may be a big stretch to ask it’s audience for a movie that features a rubber poop monster but hey you gotta start somewhere.
I'm a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Association. Read my bio below.
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