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I enjoyed Dogma but was a little disappointed in it. I think
Kevin Smith tried to unify too many themes and notions in it; the
result is a movie that, well, tries to be too many things at once.
That's the bad part -- you'd think that two, maybe three
different filmmakers each were responsible for different parts of
the movie, and the final collaboration proved beyond the ability
of even the best editor to smoothly mesh.
The good part is that while there's a couple of dull stretches
and the ending is a little weak, all the different movies that
Dogma tried to be were good movies. The irreverent humor of Jay
and Silent Bob at times is a little too slapstick but are
nonetheless hilarious at points; the more serious aspects of the
movie are actually somewhat moving and laden. There's a certain
manic quality to the finished product, halfway between devil-may-care
and mildly sloppy, that was charming in Clerks and not as
charming overall in Dogma, and I'd guess that Kevin Smith (who
despite the irreverent tone of the movie is a practicing Catholic)
felt that parts of his theme were too important to cut out. But
the movie manages to avoid a flavor of outright preachiness and
pokes a fair amount of fun at itself. If you like Jay and Silent
Bob, see the movie because while they're on screen a lot more
than in Chasing Amy or Clerks (I've never seen Mall Rats) and
therefore lack some of the freshness that they had in those
movies, they're still funny as hell -- and you might find a few
other bits in the movie that you like. At least one other person
I know who saw it tonight liked the way the movie was sort
of all over the place and what was distracting or old for me
might be enjoyable and fresh for you.
Some of the sendups of religion are a little trite, others are
scathingly funny, and despite the hype it isn't the best reason
to see the movie.
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