--- title: "Dogma" year: 1999 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/dogma" fi1m_score: 66 critics_score: 68 critics_reviews: 15 published: "2026-09-16T23:02:28.212239+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T23:03:04.295674+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dogma (1999) Directed by Kevin Smith · 2h 10m · MPA R · Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure **Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 68 from 15 reviews *In a sentence:* A two-hour theology seminar interrupted by a demon made of excrement, and the seminar is the better part > Kevin Smith’s Catholic comedy argues well and looks poor. The talk is sharp, the cast is a pleasure and Alan Rickman is in a class of his own; the story is a 130-minute errand that keeps stopping for lectures. ## Synopsis Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), two angels exiled to Wisconsin, hear of a way home. Cardinal Glick (George Carlin) is marking his New Jersey church’s centenary with a plenary indulgence: walk through its arch and your sins are wiped. If the angels do that and die, they get back in, and since God ruled they never would, existence comes apart. Bethany (Linda Fiorentino), a lapsed Catholic working at an abortion clinic in Illinois, wakes to find Metatron (Alan Rickman), the voice of God, on fire in her bedroom. She is to stop them. She picks up Jay (Jason Mewes), Silent Bob and Rufus (Chris Rock), a thirteenth apostle who falls out of the sky. ## Review Kevin Smith made [*Clerks*](https://film.one/film/clerks) (1994) with two men behind a counter and *Chasing Amy* (1997) with three people who would not stop talking, and both worked because the talk was good. *Dogma* puts the talk to work on God. Two fallen angels have found a loophole in Catholic doctrine that will get them back into heaven and, as a side effect, end the world, and a woman who has stopped going to Mass is sent to stop them. It is a sincere film about faith by a man who has one, dressed as a road comedy with a demon made of excrement in it. The argument is good. The film-making mostly is not. The good scenes are the ones where somebody sits down. Damon’s Loki, once the angel of death and now bored, talks a nun out of her vows in an airport lounge while Affleck’s Bartleby looks on like an older brother who has heard it before. Alan Rickman arrives in Bethany’s bedroom wrapped in fire, takes a fire extinguisher to the face, and explains the end of the world in the voice of a civil servant asked to work a weekend. George Carlin’s Cardinal Glick unveils a statue of Christ winking and giving a thumbs up, and defends it to the press with the calm of a man who has never doubted a marketing plan. We laughed at that press conference until we lost the next two lines, and we laughed at Rickman nearly every time he spoke, because Smith has seen that the funniest way to play the divine is as middle management. Chris Rock’s Rufus, a thirteenth apostle left out of the Bible for reasons he is glad to explain, gets the sharpest speeches about what the church did with what it was given. Jason Lee’s Azrael, a demon who wanted out, sneers through the whole thing and looks pleased to be asked. Then somebody has to move, and the film does not know what to do. Robert D. Yeoman shoots it flat and brown with the camera at chest height, two people talking and then the other two. Robert Holtzman’s church, with its stone arch and banners, is the one place that looks built for the film; everywhere else looks like where they parked. When angels fight, in car parks and on a railway platform, the shots look rehearsed once. Smith and Scott Mosier cut every scene the same way, as if it were *Clerks* with wings. Howard Shore’s score is choral, Latin and grand, and several times it swelled over a man standing beside a car and we wondered what it thought it was looking at. Linda Fiorentino plays Bethany tired, dry and slightly cross, and the film needs that, because everyone around her is doing a bit. She is given a great deal to be told and not much to say back, and by the second hour she is mostly a face for the exposition to land on. Salma Hayek Pinault’s Serendipity, a muse working in a strip club, gets one good speech about what men did with women’s stories and then stands about. Jason Mewes’s Jay is funny for twenty minutes and present for 130. The middle is a walk: the group moves, stops, is handed a rule about angels by whoever has just arrived, and moves again, and around the third stop we found we were counting them. The last stretch, which we will not describe, is badly staged and says plainly what the film believes, and it moved us more than a picture with this many jokes about oral sex has any right to. That is because Smith is not sneering. [*Life of Brian*](https://film.one/film/life-of-brian) made fun of the believers; Smith leaves them alone and goes after the men who run the church, and he means every word about the faith he says they have wasted. It is his biggest film, and it shows up everything he could not yet do behind a camera. See it with someone raised Catholic, who will laugh in different places and wince in a few. At home it is the right size; nothing here was framed for a big screen, and the arguments play as well on a sofa as in a pew. It opened in Britain on 26 December 1999, the day after Christmas, which was either a marketing decision or a joke. It runs 130 minutes and carries a 15. *Fi1m score 66, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like Dogma, and the praise gathers around the same point: a film that takes swipes at organised religion while plainly believing in it. Several reviews find it more devout than blasphemous, with the gags sitting inside a sincere parable about faith. The theological arguments earn more credit than the filmmaking, and the pairing of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as the fallen angels is the performance most often singled out. Later reassessments tend to call it Smith’s strongest film. The reservations cluster around length and discipline. Admirers call it uneven and overstuffed, with too many characters and a plot unsure of its ending. The sharpest dissent comes from Sight and Sound, which argues that heavy-handed piety stands in for satire, and from Variety, which faults a lack of visual invention. Time Out finds it too talky and in-jokey to work as either comedy or provocation. The recent notices are warmer than those from its first release. ### Reviews we read (15) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (90/100, inferred): The critic hails Dogma as Kevin Smith’s best and most personal film, praising its irreverent yet earnest take on faith and the lo-fi sincerity of its storytelling. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/dogma-is-kevin-smiths-masterpiece-review.html) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (85/100, inferred): Maslin calls the film audacious and exhilarating, praising how Smith places its outrages in the context of a devout parable and makes a gutsy leap into questions of faith while remaining cynicism-free. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/04/movies/film-festival-review-there-s-devilment-afoot-2-fallen-angels-want-back-in.html) - **Evening Standard** (80/100, inferred): Dogma is a demolition of organised religion told from the perspective of a true believer, filled with debates, jokes and gags that make it worth celebrating and discussing despite some faults. The low-key ending affirms the mystery of blind faith in a moving way that is both childish and profound. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/dogma-7433894.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (80/100, inferred): Ebert finds the film funny and smart in its theological debates, more devout than blasphemous for those familiar with Catholic concepts, and praises its assumption that the teachings are literally true along with the redemption note at the end. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/festivals/dogma-keeps-the-faith) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (75/100, inferred): Turan describes it as a lively if uneven film of ideas combining breezy comic fantasy with crude humor and sincere religious questions, calling it a one-of-a-kind pro-faith effort despite its length. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-may-22-ca-39716-story.html) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): Lane notes the film's irreverence and broad comedy but finds knockabout pleasure in its portrait of belief, comparing it favorably to Monty Python and highlighting its old-fashioned doctrinal quibbles and wish to believe without structures. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/11/15/beyond-belief) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the film exasperatingly smug and transparently sophomoric in its attacks on organised religion, but praises its funky, expertly made quality with an engagingly surreal line of fun and incomparably funny popular-culture asides. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/dec/24/1) - **Empire**, William Thomas (60/100, inferred): The film is overlong and confused with too many characters and a complicated storyline that leaves it unsure of its ending. It earns credit for its move to the mainstream and has moments of genuine hilarity along with bold aspiration in tackling religion. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dogma-review/) - **Sight and Sound**, Kevin Maher (40/100, inferred): The critic calls Dogma a noble failure that substitutes heavy-handed piety for genuine religious satire. While the cast brings sporadic energy, the episodic road-movie structure and visual direction expose Smith's weaknesses. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/344) - **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (40/100, inferred): McCarthy finds it an extraordinarily uneven and overly long vulgar pro-faith comedy that belabors its assault on institutions, praising the writing and humor but criticizing lack of discipline, technical skills, and visual invention. [Read](https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/dogma-smith-swings-oddly-at-religion-1200457637/) - **Time Out**, GA (30/100, inferred): Smith takes an ambitious step but falls flat on his face after a promising start. The film is too talky and in-jokey, not funny or subversive enough, and ultimately unsurprising given the director's Catholic faith. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/dogma) - **Den of Geek**, Joe George (85/100, inferred): Dogma is Kevin Smith's most sophisticated and intriguing film to date, finding him at his peak as a religious satire, sincere declaration of faith, and superhero-style adventure. The central duo of Bartleby and Loki, played by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, is singled out for their charisma and chemistry that carries the film's stakes through dialogue rather than action. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/dogma-remains-kevin-smiths-best-movie/) - **Polygon**, Brian VanHooker (85/100, inferred): The piece praises Dogma as Kevin Smith’s strongest film with his biggest and best narrative, while still capturing his trademark conversational energy. It singles out the philosophical conversations and chemistry between Damon and Affleck as the standout element. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/dogma-is-still-peak-ben-affleck-and-matt-damon/) - **Paste**, Jesse Hassenger (80/100, inferred): The critic views the film positively as a richly imagined departure that feels like Smith’s most convincing play for a post-Jersey afterlife, respectful to Catholicism while irreverent. He singles out the way the Catholic elements open up Smith’s work and give it weary hopefulness beyond his usual bubble. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/kevin-smith/dogma-25th-anniversary-kevin-smith-matt-damon-ben-affleck) - **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an enjoyable, irreverent religious comedy with sharp dialogue that challenges political correctness and features a strong ensemble including new faces like Chris Rock and Salma Hayek alongside Smith's regulars. He singles out the complex plot and supernatural elements for praise, urging viewers to simply sit back and enjoy the ride. [Read](https://eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dogma-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) ## Details - **Director:** Kevin Smith - **Director:** Kevin Smith - **Writer:** Kevin Smith - **Cinematography:** Robert D. Yeoman - **Editor:** Scott Mosier, Kevin Smith - **Music:** Howard Shore - **Production design:** Robert Holtzman - **Costume design:** Abigail Murray - **Producer:** Scott Mosier - **Cast:** Ben Affleck as Bartleby; Matt Damon as Loki; Linda Fiorentino as Bethany; Salma Hayek Pinault as Serendipity; Jason Lee as Azrael; Jason Mewes as Jay; Alan Rickman as Metatron; Chris Rock as Rufus - **Runtime:** 2h 10m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 12 November 1999 - **Genres:** Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure - **Budget:** $10 million - **Box office:** $34 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwSRribTgdA ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AU, CA, DK, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, NL, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Monty Python's Life of Brian* (1979), Fi1m 88: The other great comedy about faith, aimed at the crowd rather than the clergy — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/life-of-brian.md) - *The Prophecy* (1995): Christopher Walken as the angel Gabriel, warring over souls on a far smaller budget - *Wings of Desire* (1987), Fi1m 88: Angels in overcoats listening to Berlin, and one who wants to be human — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/wings-of-desire.md) - *The Rapture* (1991): Mimi Rogers finds God and then has questions; takes belief entirely seriously - *Good Omens* (2019): An angel and a demon try to stop the apocalypse, mostly over lunch --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/dogma