Dogma: A Sinfully Great Satire
Dogma Excels with Humor of Biblical Proportions

By Michael Austin

William A. Donahue, Christian activist group Catholic League President, sees the Kevin Smith’s Dogma as an attack on Catholicism, and according to him, “Catholics, and people of all religions, are sick and tired of these kinds of assaults.”It is worth noting that Mr. Donahue’s claim appeared in the op-ed page of the New York Times on June 23, 1999, almost four months before film’s release.Mr. Donahue presumably has yet to see the film, since all of the material on the Catholic League’s web site uses quotes from various reviews of the film. Had Donahue taken the time to catch one of the numerous pre-release screenings, he would have realized the irony in his criticism. Specifically, Dogma pokes fun at the very holier-than-thou mentality the Catholic League promotes.

In truth, as the disclaimer before the movie states, Dogma needs be taken with a large grain of salt. Many elements of the movie, such as a foul-mouthed 13th Apostle (Chris Rock) or a celestial muse turned stripper (Salma Hayak), or a Skeeball-loving G-d (Alanis Morrisette!) could be taken offensively.However, Smith uses these elements for comedic effect, not serious blasphemy. Anyone taken aback by such transgressions is too thin-skinned to realize that the purpose of Dogma is to entertain, not to make a serious statements about religion.

The story centers around two fallen angels, Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartelby (Ben Affleck), and their efforts to re-enter heaven by walking through the doors of a hundred-year old church in New Jersey. Abortion-clinic worker Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) is charged with a holy crusade to stop Loki and Bartelby, and thus prevent the end of the world. Jay and Silent Bob, waiting outside the abortion clinic in an effort to pick up easy women, soon meet Bethany and they set out to convince Cardinal Glick (George Carlin) to close the church. The threesome expands along the way when they enouncter Rufus (Rock), who claims that he was omitted from the Bible because he is black, and Serendipity the Muse (Hayak).Trouble comes in all shapes and sizes, from a trio of homicidal street-hockey punks to a giant turd-demon as funny as it is disgusting.

A brief appearance by Jason Lee as the demon Azrael won’t be the only thing that fans of Mallrats and Chasing Amy will be glad to see. The entire movie is filled with Smith’s typical brazen style of humor, as well as numerous pop-culture references such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Six Million Dollar Man. The plot moves along at a reasonable pace despite a few overly wordy scenes; the movie was actually cut down to meet its current two-hour running time. Fiorentino, Affleck, and Damon all give admirable performances, but Mewes and Smith steal the show with possibly their best performance yet of the "hetero life-mate" duo of Jay and Silent Bob. Chris Rock’s comical portrayal of Rufus will appeal to his fans, but probably won’t sway anyone who isn’t already enamored by the man. Overall, the comical humor makes Dogma arguably Smith’s best film since Clerks, and its easily one of the funniest movies to come along in the last couple of years.

As if the accusations of sacrilege weren’t enough, Dogma has also received criticism about its excessive profanity and gratuitous violence. It’s rated “R” for a reason folks, although the violence is about as serious as the aforementioned turd-demon. Independent of the four letter words and gore, however, Dogma actually gives a positive impression of Christianity. The only anti-religion aspect of the movie is its disapproval of all the different factions of Christianity, which is presented in a warm and fuzzy, can’t-we-all-just-get-along manner. What’s unfortunate is that haughty people, like Mr. Donahue, are too busy judging what is good and evil in our society to sit back and have a few laughs, even if some are at their own expense.The good news is that everyone else who realizes that Dogma is just a movie will greatly enjoy it.