Dogma – A Jay and Silent Bob Movie (Just With Angels)

The Bias

I’ll be honest right off the bat, I’m biased. Kevin Smith can do no wrong in my book, and Dogma just proves it. It’s one of my favourite movies, full stop. The mix of philosophical debate, religious satire, and that distinct Smith dialogue hits exactly the right balance for me. It’s smart, stupid, and sincere all at once, and not many films can pull that off.

The Disclaimer & Lore Drops

The disclaimer in the credits still cracks me up every time. Only Kevin Smith would end a film that stirred up worldwide religious outrage by basically saying, “Relax, we’re just kidding… kind of.” It’s playful, cheeky, and exactly the right tone for a movie that spends two hours juggling theology with dick jokes.

What really hits, though, is the lore. Smith sneaks in these brilliant little world-building nuggets that make the whole universe feel lived-in. Loki’s backstory, especially his role in the destruction of Gomorrah and Sodom, is one of those perfect examples. It’s delivered so casually that you almost forget you’re hearing about biblical cataclysms. That’s the beauty of it: Smith makes divine history sound like a guy telling work stories at the pub.

The Askewniverse Touch

And then there’s the connective tissue, the stuff only long-time fans vibe with. The way he keeps things like Moobies running across films is exactly why I adore the Askewniverse. It’s silly branding, sure, but it binds all these stories together. Gods, angels, clerks, prophets, drug dealers, demons, somehow they all exist in the same world, and it works.

That’s the charm of Kevin Smith: he builds universes out of in-jokes and side characters, and yet they feel more coherent than half of Hollywood’s giant cinematic universes. Every little reference, every cameo from his friends, every recurring fake brand makes Dogma feel like one chapter in a much bigger, weirder, funnier mythology. And god, I love that.

The Cast & Chemistry

The cast is unreal. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as fallen angels? Inspired. Their chemistry is what makes the whole film work, you believe these two have been stuck together for eternity, needling each other to death. Alan Rickman is perfect as the deadpan Metatron (seriously, he was born for sarcastic holiness), and Chris Rock as the 13th apostle is peak chaos. Even Jay and Silent Bob, who could’ve felt out of place, slide right into the madness and somehow end up being the voice of reason. Sort of. I will always thank Smith for helping Damon and Affleck in their careers. They both have roles or make cameos in most of his movies.

And despite the celestial scale, it’s still a Jay and Silent Bob movie through and through. They might not be the leads, but they ground the madness. They’re the street-level lens through which all the godly nonsense makes sense. Jay, with his oblivious confidence and moral confusion, ends up asking the questions we’re too polite to, and Silent Bob, as always, quietly saves the day in the background. Even surrounded by angels, prophets, and literal shit monsters, it still feels like a View Askewniverse road trip.

The Tone & Writing

What makes Dogma special is that it doesn’t just make fun of religion, it engages with it. It’s irreverent but not mean-spirited, playful but thoughtful. Smith somehow creates this ridiculous world of angels, prophets, and poop demons that still feels like it has something to say. It’s not trying to convert you; it’s trying to make you think. And laugh. A lot. The face that Smith was an alter boy turned comic book nut shows that religion is still a big part of Smith’s life.

The Dialogue

Kevin Smith’s writing is so sharp here. Every conversation sounds like people you could actually know, they just happen to be talking about the end of existence. The movie swings between deep theological debates and absolute nonsense within seconds, and it works. The humour’s aged surprisingly well too, considering how touchy some of the topics could’ve been.

The Message

At its heart, Dogma is about faith versus belief. The idea that belief can be rigid and divisive, but faith, real, personal faith, can grow and adapt. That’s a hell of a message to sneak into a film featuring a demon made of literal shit.

Verdict

Dogma is messy, clever, and endlessly quotable. It’s a weird mix of stand-up comedy, road movie, and theological think piece, and it shouldn’t work — but somehow it does. Kevin Smith walked a tightrope between blasphemy and brilliance and stuck the landing.

Score: 4.5/5