Dogma (1999)

An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon to save the existence of humanity from being negated by two renegade angels trying to exploit a loop-hole and reenter Heaven.

Director:

Kevin Smith

Writer:

Kevin Smith

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino

8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bud Cort	...	John Doe Jersey
Barret Hackney	...	Stygian Triplet (as Barrett Hackney)
Jared Pfennigwerth	...	Stygian Triplet
Kitao Sakurai	...	Stygian Triplet
George Carlin	...	Cardinal Glick
Brian O'Halloran	...	Grant Hicks (as Brian Christopher O'Halloran)
Betty Aberlin	...	Nun
Matt Damon	...	Loki
Ben Affleck	...	Bartleby
Dan Etheridge	...	Priest at St. Stephen's
Linda Fiorentino	...	Bethany
Derek Milosavljevic	...	Kissing Couple
Lesley Braden	...	Kissing Couple
Marie Elena O'Brien	...	Clinic Girl (scenes deleted) (as MarieElena O'Brien)
Janeane Garofalo	...	Liz

Storyline

An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is enlisted to prevent two angels from reentering Heaven and thus undoing the fabric of the universe. Along the way, she is aided by two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob. With the help of Rufus, the 13th Apostle, they must stop those who stand in their way and prevent the angels from entering Heaven.

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Plot Keywords:

angel | clinic | abortion clinic | abortion | church | 

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Taglines:

Faith is a funny thing.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language including sex-related dialogue, violence, crude humor and some drug content

Details

Official Sites:

Lions Gate Official Site (French)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 November 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bearclaw

Filming Locations:

New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,669,945 (USA) (12 November 1999)

Gross:

$30,651,422 (USA) (24 March 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

View Askew Productions, STK

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the bus company in the film is "Derris." Rick Derris is the name of a recurring character that appears in and is discussed in Kevin Smith's movies (Clerks (1994), Mallrats (1995), etc).

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Goofs

While eating outside of Mooby, Rufus refers to Mary Magdalene as "Mary Magladin".

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Quotes

[first lines]
Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen, the driving force behind Catholicism WOW, Cardinal Glick.
Cardinal Glick: Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now we all know how the majority and the media in this country view the Catholic church. They think of us as a passe, archaic institution. People find the Bible obtuse... even hokey. Now in an effort to disprove all that the church has appointed this year as a time of renewal... both of faith and of style. For example, the crucifix. While it has been a time honored ...

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Crazy Credits

"DOGMA" is the culmination of a lifetime's worth of disparate spiritual and satirical influences, which owes a debt to sundry storytellers and word-smiths these authors and instigators I humbly thank in no particular order... Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, Saint John, Sam Kinison, George Carlin, Elaine Pagels, John Milton, Cervantes, Martin Scorsese, Alan Moore, Thomas Moore, Spike Lee, Douglas Adams, Robert Bolt, Quentin Tarantino, Nikos Kazantzakis, Denys Arcand, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Matt Wagner, Howard, Robin, Jackie, Fred, Gary, and Everyone at The Howard Stern Show and Sister Theresa from 8th grade

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

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Soundtracks

Magic Moments
Written by Hal David & Burt Bacharach
Performed by Perry Como
Used by permission of Casa David (ASCAP) & Famous Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Courtesy of The RCA Records Label of BMG Entertainment

User Reviews

I laughed till I cried (really)

I always thought the phrase, "I laughed until I cried," was just an oxymoron. Until it happened to me. I watched Dogma: the funniest movie I have ever seen. The movie seemed designed specifically for my warped sense of humor. It was an incredible mesh of the high-brow and the low-brow.

It had one character who was extremely foul-mouthed, and kept making up hilarious obscene phrases. It also had a lot of perceptive, biting (and very funny) theological and social commentary.

For me, it was sort of like being tickled hard in the ribs for about an hour. When I reached the breath-taking climax of the film, the resolution was such a shock and was so unexpectedly emotional and I was so sore from all the laughing, I actually burst into tears. Now, dammit I am a grown man. I never do that. Not even for anything real, much less a movie. But it happened.