Reply #40: ...umm, about Dogma?

[drbtg1]

The film wasn't lavishly funded by Hollywood standards. No Kevin Smith films are lavishly funded. It got some big name actors like Chris Rock because of his work on "Chasing Amy", not big paydays. Matt Damon was there because Kevin Smith helped get "Good Will Hunting" made (Kevin Smith was an executive producer).

The real promotion it got was from Disney refusing to distribute it and William Donohue's Catholic League objecting to it, not money for commercials.

As for "lousy", well, that's in the eye of the beholder, but I don't think I'd call it "a film very critical of religion". The sense I got from the film was that Kevin Smith was a rather religious person derived from his Catholic upbringing, but is willing to point out organized religions' failings and hypocrisy. He believes but isn't blind. And that's the film Disney ran away from. It took Lion's Gate, a very small distributor, to distribute it. Just like Passion.