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Dogma Customer Reviews (40 - 42 of 80 Reviews)

A humorous look at faith
As a pair of two lapsed Catholics, My husband and I rented this movie on the recommendation of another catholic friend of ours. From the moment they unveiled the hilarious "Buddy Christ" to the moment the ending credits appeared we were rolling on the floor howling with laughter as only two people who spent years in catholic school could.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were great as two fallen angels banished by God to hell (Wisconsin) trying to get back into Heaven through a loophole in Catholic dogma. Which would unfortunately destroy the world because it would prove God fallible. Chris Rock was a very funny 13th Apostle named Rufus and Selma Hayek's role as a feisty muse name Serendipity was also good. Jason Mews and Kevin Smith himself in their perennial roles as "Jay" and "Silent Bob" were a scream as two unlikely "prophets" sent to aid the last Scion played by Linda Fiorentino. My favorite performance was that of Alan Rickman who played the surly and much put upon Metatron (or the voice of God). He portrayed the long suffering character of God's right hand angel with an excellent mix of irony, dry humor, and compassion. His fiery entrance scene was classically funny!

I felt that the weakest performance was that of Fiorentino's who played the main character Bethany, the last Scion charged with the mission of stopping the renegade angels. While she did a good job, there was something that seemed slightly forced in her portrayal of a catholic (who worked in an abortion clinic by the way) struggling with her beliefs just going through the motions of faith. The sarcastic lines lacked some bite and her expressions seemed a bit contrived. Her performance improved in the middle of the movie during her scene with Rickman after she discovers her true identity.

Overall, I felt that Dogma was not about bashing the Catholic church, but about some of the funny things about organized religion and faith. Smith touches on a number of different issues here, and the humor was a great way of dealing with the touchy and explosive subject of religion.

Most critics I suspect were offended by the language, but if you've seen one of Kevin Smith's movies before, that's to be expected. Sometimes you have to look past the messenger to see the message. Other critics sited implausible plot, wordy, or the always elegant "it just sucks". One critic bashed Smith for assuming that everyone was Catholic!

Those that thought the movie bashed Catholicism didn't read into what Smith was saying. Selma Hayek summed it up perfectly "You people don't celebrate your faith. You mourn it." Loosen up people, having a sense of humor about it is part of celebrating your faith.

I agree that the dialogue got a bit wordy, but I suspect that was for the benefit of those who didn't have a background in Catholicism. If you filtered out some of the conversational meandering and vulgar interjections by the trash mouthed "prophet" Jay, you'll find some interesting and thought provoking gems in there. As for an implausible plot...hello! We're talking religion here folks, and I think that few people would agree that the Bible is necessarily a wellspring realistic and plausible plots. Religion is about leaps of faith and if you can't handle that, then you won't get the meaning behind the movie.

The critics in the "it just sucks" camp I suspect aren't very patient with the subject of "two hours of Catholic mythology" and are more comfortable with the secular subjects of Smith's other movies (romance, shopping, drugs and the like). Hey, I don't like football, so am I going to complain that the writers of The Replacements and Remember the Titans assumed that everyone in the world enjoys football? No, I'm simply not going to watch movies about football...problem solved. The name of the movie is Dogma, it should give you a clue. And if you don't know what dogma means, look it up.

So here's a warning to all...if you have no tolerance for organized religion, so called Catholic mythology, occasional potty humor (literally), profanity, or you have no sense of humor on the subject of religion, then don't watch this movie. You be disappointed or angry.

If you are a little bit more open minded, I invite you to try out this wonderfully funny movie.

Edgy, Sharp and Fun
Before I watched this movie, I had heard of the legendary Kevin Smith movies, famed for gross jokes and bad language. It was also labeled "blasphemous". Fortunately, I did not let these things deter me from seeing one of the most creative comedies I've seen to date. From the first minute to the last, this movie was charming, bright and original. Instead of a typical gross out movie, or a cutesy romantic comedy, this movie had style and a very very original story. It's message, although it could appear offensive to all religions, it did not set out to attack religion and make a mockery of God. Quite the opposite, there were actually some good messages, such as Serendipty (Selma Hayek) says:

"When are you people going to learn? It's not about who's right or wrong. No denomination's nailed it yet, and they never will because they're all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn't matter what you have faith in, just that you have faith."

On a lighter note, the performances by each actor were absolutely fabulous. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck deliver powerhouse performances as the two exiled angels trying to sneak back into Heaven, via a loophole in the law. Alan Rickman, Chris Rock and Selma Hayek light up the film from within, in their performances as other Heavenly beings (the voice of god, the 13th (not mentioned in the bible)Apostle and a Muse). And finally, the main three earthly beings that make this movie what it is: Bethany[Linda Fiorentino], Jay[Jason Mewes] and, of course, Silent Bob[the one and only, Kevin Smith].

A truly adorable movie, with edgy humor and a whole-lotta-heart.

A Wondrous Religious Farce With Ample Drama To Spare
Kevin Smith proves once again that he can both extensively impress and infuriate his audience unlike any other filmmaker since Oliver Stone. With this unique spiritual odyssey into the comedic inner workings and inconsistencies of modern faith, Smith creates his most farcically eloquent scripted film yet. Filled with many religious and mythical characters assembled from Christianity, ancient legends, and artistic license, Dogma is a joyous examination of the sensation, joys, and humanity of religions and shouldn't be construed as an assault on faith in general. The plot tells the story of two banished angels who find a loophole back into heaven thanks to Catholic theology. Yet, if they succeed they screw up existence in the process. Overflowing with fantastically witty performances from Alan Rickman (The Voice of God), George Carlin (Cardinal Ignatius Glick), Chris Rock (Rufus the 13th Apostle), Ben Affleck (Bartleby), Matt Damon (Loki), Jason Lee (Azrael), Linda Fiorentino (Bethany Sloane), Salma Hayek (Serendipity), Alanis Morissette (See it for yourself), and Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith (Jay and Silent Bob), Dogma is almost too irrelevant and silly for it's own plausibility.

Yet, its sheer charm and comedic genius make it a jovial masterpiece of cinema merriment that will entertain and cause controversy for years to come. As for the film's many religious dissidents, frankly I find the film so filled numerous ideologies, beliefs, and opinions that it is most probably over the heads of most of it's detractors. Now for the DVD package, Dogma has a fine anamophic wide screen presentation and just a theatrical trailer. Wait for the option loaded Dogma DVD that is supposed to come in near the end of the year before you purchase this marvelous film.

P.S. Remember if you're not eternal or from another plain of existence plug your ears.

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