Pop Culture Pick: Dogma's Second Coming
My thoughts on Kevin Smith's resurrected religio-com
Image Credit: Triple Media Film.
Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, praise Buddy Christ, Dogma is back! Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite, Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite and Blue Sky: @jammerwhite.bsky.social
Kevin Smith was once my movie god. No, don’t go thinking that this is me launching into some “but he’s rubbish now!” polemic –– far from it. I still have a lot of time for the filmmaker and his work.
Yet his early films, the ones that helped establish him on the cinematic map (Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy) formed a part of my late teenage life. Posters from his movies adorned my bedroom walls and door. The few times I’ve had the chance to interact with him professionally have always been entertaining and rewarding, particularly the chance to be a part of his Red State Film School project, which I covered for Empire magazine.
And among his initial run of “ViewAskewniverse” output, Dogma stands out. Partly because it was a big swing on the part of the writer/director, who blended his then-reverent Catholic faith with the foul-mouthed comedy and pop culture references for which he’d become known to winning effect. Also because it features the starriest cast he’d yet worked with –– it wasn’t every day Alan Rickman showed up as a grumpy Metatron or Salma Hayek gyrated as a supernatural stripper (I know, I know, From Dusk ‘Till Dawn also exists, you don’t need to point that out).
Finally, Dogma sparked a firestorm of protest from hardline Catholic groups, most of whom hadn’t seen the film before they took to the pulpit clutching their rosary beads. Amusingly, Smith himself showed up at several of them, hoisting placards decrying his own movie.
They really needn’t have worried –– for all its anarchic humour, this is a work of someone who wanted to explore belief, faith, racism and more in as entertaining fashion as he could muster.
Worse than the protests, though, was the post-theatrical treatment. With the rights held by the Weinstein brothers, the movie was released on home entertainment formats of the time, but has never seen the light of day on streaming or theatrical re-release. Held like some political prisoner, it has languished in vaults and despite Smith’s best efforts, remained locked away. Until now, when a company finally managed to buy the rights, and got in touch with the director to discuss touring it.
Which means we now have it back in cinemas (in the US so far) in shiny 4K re-master and the chance for fresh life on both physical media and streaming.
Dogma, in case you’ve never seen it (and many people haven’t because of the rights issue), is the story of two renegade angels, played by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Upon learning that there’s a loophole in Catholic dogma that would allow them to re-enter Heaven, they head for New Jersey.
The minor wrinkle in their plan is that achieving their goal would prove God is fallible, and that in turn would destroy all of reality. Yet God is mysteriously missing, so his faithful Metatron (Rickman) recruits the skeptical Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) to go on a mission to stop them. She gets some help from the likes of Hayek’s muse, Serendipity (these days making ends meet as a stripper), and Rufus, (Chris Rock) the 13th apostle left out of the Bible because he’s black. Along for the ride are ViewAskewniverse regulars, stoner duo Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith). They’ll have to tackle angel-turned-demon Azrael and his legion of hellspawn…
It’s not infallible –– there are issues with pacing and this was the era when Smith, either due to budget or lack of will to carry them out –– mostly cuts away from any action moments. Yet his script still has pearls of wit and wisdom in it, and there are some truly wonderful performances, particularly from Damon, Rock and Rickman.
I’m so glad that Dogma is enjoying a second coming; it deserves to find a new audience. Recently, I got the chance to talk to Smith about the re-release, and you can see that over at Moviefone.
Dogma is on limited release in US theaters now; find tickets here. A UK date has is promised but not yet announced.