DOGMA (1999) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Kevin Smith
Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino,
Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek,
George Carlin, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes,
Kevin Smith, Janeane Garofalo, Bud Cort
Kevin Smith's most ambitious movie to date follows two fallen angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) from Wisconsin, where they've been living in exile, to New Jersey, where they hope to gain a plenary indulgence and reenter heaven. The trouble is, if they pull it off, they prove God fallible for casting them out in the first place, thereby negating all existence. Or something like that. Smith digs into a grab bag of Catholic mythology and pulls out enough odd bits of belief to put together a thoughtful, provocative and extremely funny movie. (Hal Hartley covered some of the same ground in "The Book of Life", but Smith's lowdown approach is more accessible.) For all its irreverent humor, earthy language and scatological imagery, the movie's not the act of blasphemy some church organizations claimed. In its own way, like Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ", it's an act of faith. The cast includes Alan Rickman as an angelic messenger, George Carlin as an ecclesiastical spin doctor, Chris Rock as Rufus, the 13th apostle, Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith) as unlikely prophets, Salma Hayek as a stripper/muse, and Linda Fiorentino as an abortion clinic worker and the last surviving blood relative of Jesus. By the way, God's a woman. She looks a lot like Alanis Morissette. She wears frilly dresses with boxer shorts. She has a sense of humor, won't tolerate mass-murdering angels, and exhibits an obvious affection for imperfect human beings, including the chronically horny, foul-mouthed stoner, Jay. She seems pretty cool. Pass it on.
