Too talky, too fond of in-jokes, too caught up (especially during the dismally weak climax) in its crass comic-strip ethos, and not, finally, as funny, subversive or thought-provoking as it would like to be.
Comment
01/26/06
Dogma (1999)
67
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:122
Fresh:82
Rotten:40
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Provocative and audacious, Dogma entertains without overtly offending.
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Imaginative theology and a bigger than usual budget make Kevin Smith's fourth film a kind of post-Catholic fantasy that only a comic-book enthusiast of his caliber could dream up. The plot is set... [More]
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Linda Fiorentino, George Carlin
Director: Kevin Smith
Reviews for Dogma
Top CriticIf this is [Smith's] one 'message' movie, let's hope he has got it off his chest.
04/24/01
Top CriticAs an ambitious and overreaching break with Smith's provincial milieu Dogma is a failed experiment, but a noble failure.
12/02/02
I recommend it anyway, for the way it kids around with the finer points of a religion while embracing its high ideas.
01/01/00
Smith's comic allegory is overlong and confused, but his move from indie to mainstream deserves at least some credit.
01/01/00
Top CriticA lighthearted, determinedly independent romp.
03/19/08
Top CriticI loved seeing all these great character actors at work, and the discussions are rich and intelligent.
10/23/03
Often excessively coarse, uneven in the pacing (a lengthy train-ride sequence is entirely superfluous) but also great fun.
01/01/00
The film opens with maybe the best disclaimer ever, citing the platypus as proof that God has a sense of humor. If only the rest of Dogma was as clever as this prologue.
01/01/00
Rough edged, a feisty little pit bull barking up a stormy Judeo/Christian religious debate concerning the true nature of God while passing itself off as a joke.
09/16/01
Agonizingly foul-mouthed and adolescent, surprisingly empty and ineffective as a satire of organized religion, and at least 30 minutes too long.
01/01/00
Original and ambitious.
01/01/00
This is not a neatly wrapped package -- it’s a noisy, messy, outrageous rampage most of the time. But enough sticks to the wall with sufficient frequency to recommend it.
02/14/01
Somewhere between heaven and hell
04/04/01
One of the most intelligent, engaging, and gut-bustingly funny revelations to come along in a while.
03/21/01
The problems with Dogma are that it's uneven, overlong, and occasionally uninteresting.
01/01/00
The true target of the film is not religion but religious dogma ...
07/07/08
Smart, seditious and fantastically complex.
01/01/00
What happens next is just funny stuff, yet very intelligent at the same time.
01/01/00
It's push-the-envelope coarse, thematically ambitious, and -- most dangerously -- self-consciously respectful and thoughtful on matters of faith and religion.
04/06/06
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