Bad Films I Love, Part Six: Dogma (1999)

If you are over thirty, chances are Kevin Smith’s films figured heavily in your college/high school viewing. He made a big splash with the likes of Clerks and Mallrats which picked up a huge cult following and were highly quotable comedies for audiences who had just discovered Tarantino after his double whammy of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Smith followed up his two initial efforts with Chasing Amy, something altogether more serious which was popular with audiences and critics alike. These days Smith divides the online film geek community like few other directors. There are those who found the first three films to be deeply influential and will defend Smith when he even churns out disappointments like Jersey Girl and Copout. There are also those who have recognized that Smith is essentially a limited director with very little visual flair and would prefer that he stick to the dick and fart jokes and Star Wars conversations which made his name.

Post Chasing Amy, Kevin Smith decided to make a religious road movie and mentioned Garth Ennis then popular comic series Preacher as an influence. When Dogma started to screen at film festivals and was approaching its late 1999 release date, it arrived on a wave of controversy. The film was accused by many of being blasphemous, featuring as it did; a descendant of Jesus who worked at an abortion clinic, an apostle who tries to spread the word that Jesus was black, God portrayed as a woman and several jabs at the catholic church and their practices. The original studio Miramax which is owned by Disney was forced to dump the film and Lions Gate films, then a new kid on the block, picked up the film for distribution. In 1999 after a year which had Fight Club and The Matrix, Dogma was my most anticipated movie due for release.

I went through a weird phase with this film. At first I convinced myself that it was a good movie and a more than fitting addition to Kevin Smith’s filmography. The more I watched it though, the more I started to realize that there is something majorly wrong with Dogma and it is an anomaly in Smith’s career. What it comes down to is this, Dogma the screenplay far exceeds Smith’s abilities as a filmmaker.

The story of Dogma concerns two angels Bartleby and Loki (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) who are currently expelled from heaven and discover a loophole in church doctrine that means if they pass through the arch of a catholic church all their sins will be forgiven and they can re-enter heaven. Trouble is this will undo the word of God and bring the world to an end. Bartleby and Loki decide to go on a killing spree, punishing all sinners in their path as they travel to the church in Redbank, New Jersey. The Metatron;the voice of God (Alan Rickman) enlists the help of the last scion, Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) to stop the angels going through the church. Bethany is joined by the 13th apostle Rufus (Chris Rock), The Muse (Salma Hayek) and two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith himself). All the while fallen angel Azrael (Jason Lee) hinders them with his demonic minions.

The major problem with Dogma is also its major strength, the script. While all the pop culture references and cracking lines are present and correct, the movie also has characters spouting long bits of exposition during action scenes. Take for instance the scene where our heroes are attacked by a shit demon. A dodgy CGI creation fires pooh across the room and the good guys dive for cover. During this time, The Muse goes into a lengthy exposition of where the demon originated from. In real time there would have been plenty of time for the monster to walk up to them and break her neck while she is gabbing on. Dogma also exposes Smith as a director with very little visual flair. Whilst Tarantino learnt to direct action scenes prior to making Kill Bill, Smith simply hasn’t bothered. He prefers to set up a great visual set piece and then cut to the actors reactions. The few opportunities for visually stunning scenes are wasted. Loki and Bartleby’s killing spree is reduced to a few blood stains whereas actually seeing the acts of violence perpetrated would have added to the overall impact of the narrative. The one good scene involves an exploding head but it comes too late in proceedings to really save the film in a visual sense. Apart from this we get the aforementioned dodgy CGI shit demon and an equally dodgy and brief scene of Bartleby actually using his wings and flying a bit. What would have been cool is if Smith had written the screenplay, removed Jay and Silent Bob and just sold it on to a visually gifted director who could handle action scenes. Think how cool a story about angels on a killing spree would have been in the hands of Robert Rodriguez who could have probably still done it for the low budget. Jay and Silent Bob are amusing for sure, they don’t really belong in a story as potentially weighty as this though and serve just as props to bring in Smith’s faithful fans and move the plot forward. As a whole the performances are pretty one note, Linda Fiorentino seems bored the whole time and Alan Rickman seems like he is appearing in a Carry On film. Luckily Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are pretty cool in the film as is Jason Lee as the films only real bad guy.

Having said all that, the film does have some pretty interesting ideas about faith and religion which make you think. If this was Smith’s only intention then he succeeded because much of what is said in Dogma about celebrating faith instead of mourning it rings very true especially in these troubled times and in some scenes is actually quite touching. Its hard to hate a film which tries to bring this message to the masses but in terms of films about religion I far prefer Kingdom of Heaven or The Nines.If nothing else this was the movie that brought us the buddy Christ.

Smith’s next movie will likely be Red State, a horror movie based around organized religion and specifically the Westboro Baptist Church and there evil leader Fred Phelps. Lets just hope that this time he learns how to make things visually interesting as well as keeping his smart mouth dialogue.

Chris Holt