Apocalypse Wow: `Dogma' is a winning tale of fallen angels

By Elvis Mitchell
Star Time

Kevin Smith's love of words, of giving his characters an almost desperate need to explain themselves to the world, to their friends, to each other, takes on a perverse streak in `Dogma,' a movie that looks as if it were cast out of a year-end issue of `Vanity Fair.'

The soon-to-be-fallen angels Loki (Matt Damon, left) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck) break out of their amiable, slightly irritated rap with each other and stand up to wreak havoc on a bunch of innocents at an airport, or in the boardroom of a corporation that has fouled the spirit of the Old Testament by turning a biblical icon into an animated trademark. It becomes a parody of the violence erupting in the midst of self-absorption in `Pulp Fiction.'

Smith's fixation on popular culture is rooted in a running love of media, a love that amounts to a fleet-footed clash of mythologies. It includes the Old and New Testaments, cartoons and comic books -- certainly anyone who's ever read an issue of `The Mighty Thor' won't be surprised to see that Loki is one of those responsible for the chaos. (In `Thor,' Loki took his name from the Norse god of mischief.) But Smith respects all of this stuff -- he's not just looting it for an easy laugh. Most of the time, anyway.

Smith, whose previous films include `Clerks, Mallrats' and `Chasing Amy,' gets better with his actors in each picture. In `Dogma,' you can see this with Affleck, who is so much improved that he no longer seems to be using English as a second language. `Dogma' gives Smith a chance to work on the theme that he began with `Mallrats,' an addled search for both a good time and spiritual fulfillment.

That search for transcendence starts with Bethany (Linda Fiorentino), who laments the void in her life. In a crank-fest with her co-worker (Janeane Garofalo), it's clear that Bethany's griping is actually a groping for meaning. And true to her Catholic girls' school name, it's not long before an angel (Alan Rickman, testament to the fact that there are no orthodontists in heaven) appears before her. Soon, Bethany is on the road for New Jersey to prevent the End of the World as we know it. Bartleby and Loki have been laid off by God, who seems to have lost interest in the mortal plane, and to have confined them to Wisconsin. They have to make their way to a church in the Garden State so they can reclaim their status, but their doing so will cause a rift that will lead to Armageddon -- if you'll pardon the reference to another Ben Affleck movie.

On her journey to Jersey, Bethany runs into the 13th disciple, Rufus (Chris Rock), whose name seems to indicate that he was the patron saint of Amos and Andy. Rufus begins his rapid-fire monologue, and, like everyone in `Dogma,' he has a lot to say. It wouldn't be a Kevin Smith movie if Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) didn't turn up. They become aides to Bethany, her earthly protectors. (In the ragged, unlikely band brought together to save the world from an Old Testament-sized destruction, Smith pays subtle tribute to Matt Wagner's `Mage,' a comics series in which Excalibur is a baseball bat.)

Part of `Dogma' seems to derive from the Smith approach, in which it often feels as if he hurls subplots and characters at the wall to see what will stick. As a result, the movie is a sprawl that could use some trimming, even though it's often amusing. (After a success, Loki strides down a highway singing the theme to `Martin.)' The grimy, cheap look of the movie provokes a few laughs. Because of its look, `Dogma' feels undernourished, but Smith has made slovenliness into a style. This approach lends itself to `Dogma,' a shaggy-dog story about the need for faith and the apparently aimless stride toward that state. The movie really isn't aimless at all, though. Its effects are quite specific.

`Dogma' is rated R for adult language, violence and situations that could be upsetting to younger viewers.