Dogma

Plot

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 loophole and re-enter Heaven.

Release Year: 1999

Rating: 7.3/10 (119,086 voted)

Critic's Score: 62/100

Director:
Kevin Smith

Stars: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino

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.

Cast:

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

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

Taglines:
Get 'touched' by an angel.

Details

Official Website:
Lions Gate |
Official Site (French) |

Release Date: 12 November 1999

Filming Locations: 600 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $10,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $8,669,945
(USA)
(14 November 1999)
(1269 Screens)

Gross: $30,651,422
(USA)
(26 March 2000)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Director Trademark:
[Kevin Smith]
[
Jaws]
In the DVD Special Edition there is a cut scene where Jay (Jason Mewes) puts on Cardinal Glick's (George Carlin) hat and walks back and forth behind a screen so that all you see is the hat, looking like a shark's fin.

Goofs:

Errors in geography:
The TV van outside the church in New Jersey is marked as being from station KREL. TV stations whose call letters start with "K" are located in the western half of the US.

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…

User Review

I laughed till I cried (really)

Rating: 10/10


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.