Review By Anonymous

When I obtained a pass to the first NYC showing of DOGMA, I was ecstatic. Suddenly the Star Wars: TPM hype took a back seat, and nothing else mattered. After snickering at some desperate guy offering twenty bucks for my pass at the door, my girlfriend and I entered the theater, and waited with anticipation.

The music was enthralling, and suspenseful. The acting was great overall, but some people really shined. No one brought down the film. I won't discuss everyone, just my faves. Alan Rickman, was hilarious as the Metatron and Linda Fiorentino rocked my world as Bethany. She was really dressed-down and not glamorized at all. However, it worked. As for Matt & Ben: couldn't get enough of 'em. Some of the monologues were a bit long and preachy...but that's not the stuff you truly appreciate the first time around w/ a Kevin Smith film. Not to be overlooked, Jason Lee gave my favorite performance of them all. Also, with more Jay & Silent Bob than you can shake a phatty, boom-boom blatty blunt at, you can't not laugh at Dogma. The special effects looked nearly completed. The Golgothan scene was well done, in my opinion, and could be presented, as is. (He kind of looks like Flubber on crack!) Ben Affleck's wings look like some off-line rendering, though. Speaking of which, the high point of the film, no pun intended, was seeing crazy Ben Affleck fly through the air with these huge wings, dropping people out of the sky!

Just to give a clearly subjective view, from both sides, I do have some criticisms. Despite the amount of material cut, the film still lacks flow. Because of all the characters and stuff happening, issues are raised and not addressed again for close to twenty-thirty minutes of screen time. This is too long. The entire audience will be lost or bored, except for the die-hard View-Askewers. And once again, some of the dialogue goes around in circles, and is more dramatic than comedic bringing the energy level of the film down.

Nonetheless, afterwords I felt very privelaged that I saw this film. It more than met my expectations. Hopefully, the minor faults will be cleaned up, but it is phenominal as it stands now. All of you, and that guy who offered my twenty bucks, have a real treat to look forward to come October!