When “Dogma” opened on November 12, William Donohue and Patrick Scully went to see it. Here are the comments that Donohue released to the press about the movie:
“The most extensive laughter was when the sarcastically-written disclaimer appeared on the screen. Once the film began, that was just about it. Never in my life have I attended a ‘comedy’ that received less laughs than ‘Dogma’; it is no wonder that the woman next to me literally fell asleep. However, those who like Columbine-type violence will not be disappointed, nor will adolescents who get excited upon hearing the F-word.
“That film critics like the New York Times reviewer, Janet Maslin, and Time magazine’s Richard Corliss, thought it a gas means either that they will laugh at anything, or they can’t resist giving high marks to any movie that insults Catholicism. The only way to find out for sure is for someone in Hollywood to make a stupid comedy that insults Protestants or Jews (preferably both), and then run it by the likes of Maslin and Corliss.
“Discussing his career as a writer, Kevin Smith recently said that he plans to bail out the minute he runs out of things to say. Someone should tell him the clock has already run out. ‘Dogma’ gets an ‘F.’”
On November 14, Donohue appeared on CNN to debate the merits of the movie. Opposing him was a Paulist priest.
