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Dogma (1999)
As a child, Kevin Smith wanted to be a preacher when he grew up. It was only later that he realized his real dream was to tell stories in front of an audience. His fourth directorial effort, Dogma, showed that he still had a lot to say on religion, resulting in a clever and heartfelt satire that deserves to stand with other divine comedies like Life of Brian, Good Omens and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. Dogma’s star-studded cast is anchored by Linda Fiorentino as Bethany Sloane, a jaded abortion counselor who is charged with a holy mission of stopping two fallen angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, fresh off Good Will Hunting) from exploiting a loophole that will let them reenter heaven and, as a result, unmake all of creation. While Smith airs his grievances with the Catholic church and the Good Book itself through his usual vernacular of curse words and pop culture references, Dogma is ultimately an affirmation of faith and the hope for a greater good watching out for us all. This earnestness, however, did not placate evangelicals, who found the film offensive and organized pickets of it—one of which Smith himself memorably joined. The rights to Dogma were for years held by producer Harvey Weinstein (Smith joked that his movie about angels was owned by the devil himself), but since he regained them, Smith has rolled out the red carpet for a 25th anniversary celebration, giving a new generation of filmgoers a profane glimpse at salvation. Snoogans! Cinemagic, June 5–10.
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