'Dogma' is smart, articulate, wildly irreverent

Fox 411 - By Roger Friedman

Dogma Less Inflammatory Than Publicity

All those protesters ready to pounce on Kevin Smith�s film Dogma are going to be severely disappointed.

Mike Segar/Reuters Kevin and Harley Smith

Two audiences saw the movie last night and this is the conclusion: God wins, so does Catholicism, and Dogma could almost be called a conservative film.

Of course, Lions Gate — which picked up the film from Miramax — would like some controversy. But Dogma is extremely thoughtful.

It�s a movie about ideas, which is rare, and covers all the bases. Yes, God is a woman — she�s Alanis Morissette in a Christian La Croix gown, looking beatifically pretty and extremely benign. She speaks through Alan Rickman, who plays the voice of God with his usual aplomb and style.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have the lead roles as fallen angels who conspire to get back into heaven. They are utterly charming, in fact, and seem as much of a threat to the future of the Church as Charlie Brown and Linus.

Affleck has the meatier role and uses it to show off his ever deepening acting skills. Other standouts include Salma Hayek as the Muse and Jason Lee as the Devil.

Dogma won�t be for everyone — it�s a bit talky and about 15 minutes too long. But you�d be hard pressed to find a movie in 1999 that tackles a subject like this and in this way.

Reuters Matt Damon, Salma Hayek and Ben Affleck

It shows that Smith — whose previous films included Chasing Amy and Clerks, has moved into a new league.

Mrs. Doubtfire in Hell

The aforementioned Kevin Smith riffs on a bunch of different movies as inside jokes in Dogma.

One great line involves Jason Mewes (as the perennially stoned Jay) meeting God, played in silence by Alanis Morissette. "Hey, what is this, The Piano?" Mewes wonders aloud and he gets the big laugh as a payoff.

But Smith had some more lines like that in mind that never reached the final version.

"We had one line where someone asks Jason Lee what Hell is like and he says, 'All I can tell you is they play Mrs. Doubtfire over and over.' We took it out because we thought there were too many jokes like that already."

Smith should have stuck with it because he has a good volley going with Mrs. Doubtfire�s screenwriter, Ron Bass.

Last winter in Stepmom, Bass had Julia Roberts reference "snowballing," an extremely disgusting sexual act which Smith thought up for Clerks.

In Stepmom, Roberts can�t recall which movie she�s heard this in, but Smith was happy to hear he�d made it into one of her films.

There�s another Smith reference floating around in today�s pop culture, too.

Amy Brenneman�s TV series Judging Amy seems clearly to have been modeled on Chasing Amy.

Smith says, "I haven�t seen the show but I�m flattered."

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