Dogma

Dogma is a 1999 adventure-comedy-fantasy film, written and directed by Kevin Smith, who co-stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo, and Alanis Morissette.

Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, the stars of Smith's debut film Clerks, have cameo roles, as do Smith regulars Scott Mosier, Dwight Ewell, Walt Flanagan, and Bryan Johnson.

The film is a satire of the Catholic Church and Catholic belief, which caused organized protests and much controversy in many countries, delaying release of the film and leading to at least two death threats against Smith. The film follows two fallen angels, Loki and Bartleby, who, through a loophole in Catholic Dogma find a way to get back into Heaven after being cast out by God—however, as God is infallible their success in doing so would prove Him/Her wrong and thus undo all creation. The last scion and two prophets are sent by the Voice of God to stop them.

Aside from some scenes filmed on the New Jersey shore, most of the film was shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This film was rated R by the MPAA “for strong language including sex-related dialogue, violence, crude humor and some drug content”.

Like many of Smith's films, the movie is noted for its heavy use of profanity.

Overview

An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon by God to save the existence of humanity from two fallen angels trying to exploit a loophole and reenter Heaven.

Cast of characters

• Ben Affleck as Bartleby, an omniscient grigori watcher angel who, feeling sorry for the human race, asked Loki to lay down his sword. Both were expelled from Heaven and banished to Wisconsin. Initially the more laid back and reasonable of the two, his sanity snaps when he comes to the realization that God has given humans "infinite patience" and the choice of whether or not to worship Her, while the angels' lives were meant to be those of servitude and they in turn were exiled for a single transgression. He subsequently becomes a deranged, unstable killer.
• Matt Damon as Loki, the former angel of death who, after getting drunk with Bartleby one day, lays down his sword and gives the finger to God, leading to his and Bartleby's expulsion from Heaven. More extroverted and humorously aggressive than his partner, he has no qualms about killing those who have committed harsh sins in the past with a recently purchased Desert Eagle, though he is unwilling to kill the innocent. He also likes to convince members of the clergy that there is no God, despite knowing full well there is, commonly using Lewis Carroll's tale of The Walrus and the Carpenter as an example of 'religious' figures leading the little people to their deaths; his stated reason for doing so is to "keep them on their toes". Loki experiences a role reversal when Bartleby snaps, and tries in vain to talk Bartleby out of going through with the plan.
• Linda Fiorentino as Bethany Sloane, a worker at an abortion clinic who is given the task of stopping Bartleby and Loki from returning to Heaven. Her husband left her because an infection rendered her infertile, which has also made her a lapsed Catholic. She is the last living descendant (the last scion) of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph of Nazareth.
• Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as Jay and Silent Bob, two stoners/dealers/prophets from New Jersey who join Bethany on her quest after saving her from the demon triplets. They originally joined in the hopes Bethany would have sex with them, then because she would pay them, and finally to help save Earth. They stumble onto their prophecies completely by accident, with Jay just randomly blurting out unintentionally useful information and suggestions while Bob handles the more physical side of the current crisis.
• Chris Rock as Rufus, the thirteenth apostle who was written out of the Bible, which he attributes to racism. He knew Jesus, and claims that Jesus still owes him twelve dollars. He also says Jesus was Black, and that he was martyred in Antioch for preaching this. He helps Bethany, Jay, and Silent Bob to reach New Jersey in exchange for them helping him change the Bible (making sure he is included and that Jesus' race is corrected, for starters).
• Alan Rickman as The Metatron, the voice of God, as God's voice cannot be heard by humans without their heads exploding (Metatron muses that 'it took us five Adams to figure that out!'). A wise yet cynical Seraph, Metatron's demeanor is usually ruined by one thing or another getting on his clothes. Despite his sarcastic demeanor, it was Metatron who gently convinced Bethany why she has to continue on her quest, when she has a breakdown after finding out the truth about her lineage, admitting that Jesus had a similar reaction when he learned the truth and regretting that he was unable to take Jesus' heritage away to give the boy the chance at a normal life.
• Jason Lee as Azrael, a muse who was sent to Hell after hiding during the war between God and Lucifer. The film's true villain, he plots to wipe out existence itself by getting Bartleby and Loki back into Heaven: his reasons for doing so is that after spending millennia in Hell, Azrael would rather destroy existence and himself along with it than go back there. His minions are the Stygian Triplets and Noman the Golgothan. Azrael is actually the name of the Islamic angel of death.
• Salma Hayek as Serendipity, a muse who got a body on Earth so she could get credit for her work, only to find that her powers of inspiration couldn't be used for personal gain. She instead began work as a stripper (though she lacks female genitalia). She tells Bethany that God is really a woman, and she wrote the Bible to reflect this, but those actually doing the writing were all men and thus changed the entire book to put women in a more unfavorable light. It should be stated that in spite of her indignant stance on God's femininity, both Rufus and the Metatron state that God is neither male nor female, but is simply 'God'. She claims to be responsible for 19 of the top 20 movies of all time: someone sold their soul to Satan to inflate the grosses on Home Alone.
• George Carlin as Cardinal Ignatius Glick, a pompous, publicity-seeking Cardinal at a church in Red Bank who launches a campaign for a new form of Catholicism called "Catholicism Wow!", as well as discontinuing the standard "Jesus on a cross" motif in favor of a more upbeat (and controversial) "Buddy Christ", depicting an affable Jesus pointing and winking with a thumb up. Bethany describes him as "the kind of asshole who'd bless his golf clubs for a better game", which comes in handy when Bob uses a club to kill Azrael due to it being blessed by a man of God.
• Ethan Suplee as Voice of Golgothan "Shit Demon", Hell's Chief assassin, an "excremental" formed out of the excrement of all who were crucified at Golgotha when they died. He can fire explosives balls of feces from his hands as projectiles, and is strong enough to easily defeat five humans in combat. He is summoned by Azrael to attack Bethany, but is defeated by Silent Bob with air freshener ('knocks strong odors out').
• Barret Hackney, Jared Pfennigwerth, and Kitao Sakurai as The Stygian Triplets, three teenagers brought from Hell by Azrael to aid in his machinations. They wear roller skates and wield hockey sticks. In a deleted scene, they are revealed to have murdered a toddler by smashing its skull in while they were still alive, just to see what it looked like. They were killed in a car crash on the way to a detention center. Jay, Rufus and Serendipity defeat the three by dunking their heads in blessed water (courtesy of Bethany). They are never shown talking, but they do seem to emit an audible sound similar to buzzing insects such as flies or locusts.