Dogma
(1999)
In
case I have failed to mention it prior: I love Jason
Mewes. I got a crush like a teenage bitch going here.
And, much to my delight and to the delight of the several
million heterosexual males who dig them, the rockus
duo of Jay and Silent Bob are all over "Dogma." The
are in at least 2/3 of the film. It's great fun. It's
easy to see now why Smith had so much trouble getting
"Dogma" made directly after "Clerks." The powers-that-be
hated Mewes (idiots) and to finance "Dogma" would be
to make Mewes a major star. He's great here.
Yes,
I know it's me... but the latent homosexuality of Jay
and Silent Bob is what make them so special to me. Smith
and Mewes consistently find the exact and correct amount
of humor and loving comradery in their roles. It's beautiful.
And this is balanced with just the right amount of heterosexual
vibrato to make them acceptable heros to every straight
kid in America. If you don't like Jay and Silent Bob,
you are either a moron or a pretentious putz. Either
way, I don't want to know you.
"Dogma"
has a rough time of it in patches. The plot and dialogue
rely heavily on the Bible itself for inspiration and
plotting points. Smith explains as much as he can in
layman's terms, but keeping up with it all is sometimes
hard work. Perhaps being a Catholic helps. This film
is like a lapsed Catholic's hilarious yet somewhat serious
essay on faith and redemption. It's not that it's pompous
and pedantic. Rather, it's smart, sassy, funny and interesting
but not so much dumbed down. Smith pulls all these desperate
elements of religion together and has something unique
and, yes, visionary to say about them.
Perhaps
one of the most important aspects of Smith's work is
that it is hardly ever mean-spirited. Smith takes the
most delicate of subjects, sex, relationships, homosexuality,
death, religion and faith and pokes gentle fun at them.
In the process, he draws to light an attention to the
ridiculousness of our hang-ups on said topics. "Dogma"
has angels and prophets and one of Christ's apostle's
saying "fuck" and "Goddamn." And yet, Smith's intention
is not to shock or demean. He is not bitter or angst-ridden
or vengeful. Rather, Smith just likes to talk about
these delicate subjects, shed a little light on them
and do so using modern vocabulary. In this way, he is
like John Waters without the shock value. He is opening
our eyes with intellect and humor that reaches us at
our level, because it is sometimes very base, and challenges
us, because it sometimes prods our ridiculous preconceptions.
And
like Tarantino, Smith takes on pop culture references,
but his are much more common, universal. Rather than
pay homage to foreign films and obscure 70's cinema,
Smith plays off of "Star Wars" and comic books and hockey
and John Hughes, many of the familiar Smith themes revisited
for "Dogma." But Smith, as far as I could tell, does
not include a "Jaws" reference here. Nor does he references
the thrice told story of a girl's drowning. Instead,
in the field of new tributes, we see loving reminders
of "Monty Python," "Indiana Jones" and "007" films.
In the field of actors, Smith also jumbles his self-
referential style with laces of new diversion. In addition
to Jay and Silent Bob, Ben Affleck returns in a big
way. Matt Damon, who had a minor appearance in "Chasing
Amy" plays his sidekick. Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson
from "Clerks" return in minor roles. Ethan Suplee is
so covered in plastic you wont recognize him. And Jason
Lee delivers a cute but pathetically stale performance.
Smith seems much less in love with including the concentric
circles of his former film's plot and characters and
more interested in developing his new plot and characters.
And in this, there are scores of new faces (for a Smith
film) including Linda Fiorentino, Alan Ruckman, Chris
Rock, Janeanne Garofalo, George Carlin, Salma Hayek,
Bud Cort and Alanis Morissette.
Damon
and Affleck have major time in the film and the are
awesome together. Affleck seems to be really at his
best here. And Damon (Goddamnit I know he's cute but
that ain't it) simply rocks. Even given one of the oldest
and stupidest jokes on Earth, which has a delivery and
a punchline a mile apart, Damon nails it like a badass.
The "childhood friends'" work together continues to
be some of the most exciting acting on screen. And,
yes, they too fall into Smith's theme of latent homosexuality.
It's fucking funny. Even if Affleck did it out of turn
in "200 Cigarettes" earlier this year.
As for the rest of the cast, all of them are true gems
except for Hayek. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just white.
But I cannot understand half of the fucking shit she
says. It's infuriating. Especially since Smith's dialogue
is filled with explanation and exposition for this particular
intricate plot. Here, Hayek makes one wish for Closed
Captioning.
"Dogma"
affirms Smith's place in the upper stratosphere of the
best indie filmmakers on the planet. He seems to refuse
to lower himself to convention or Hollywood or stardom.
Smith never seems to take himself seriously. He makes
films that adhere to his ideas, his vision, his humor
and his interests. And he puts his finger exactly on
"it" almost every time. Sure, as in "Dogma," he can
sometimes stretch us thin (2 hours and 10 minutes is
way too long for a Smith film), but even his weak spots,
even his missteps, are far more interesting and superior
to almost anything else out there in the field of the
American pop culture indie comedy genre. Smith seems
destined for greatness.
Then
again, his next film, according to the end credits,
is to be something called "Hardly Clerking: Clerks 2"
(or some such nonsense). Hopefully, this is Smith's
biggest in-joke of all time... Notes: Score by Howard
Shore.
Supposedly
Anderson had gotten "big-headed" after "Clerks" and
there was falling out between he and Smith. He returns
here having done almost no substantial film work in
5 years looking older and unattractive.
Emma
Thompson was going to play God originally but had to
back out due to having a baby.
Smith
wrote the script prior to "Clerks."
Obnoxious product placement: Miller Genuine Draft
Includes several funny credits which are impossible
to read at the theater. This is what makes Smith's work
great for video and DVD.
The
film was denounced by the Catholic Church well before
it was even released. Mirimax, owned by Disney and affraid
to release the film, allowed Lion's Gate to distribute
it. Although shot in the summer of 1998 (at a budget
of $5 million), the film was not released until 11/12/99.
The
film was known as "Bearclaw" during production as a
ruse.
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