Story courtesy of Hip

Film Dogma'ed By Controversy

BY BRUCE KIRKLAND

CANNES -- Canadian rocker Alanis Morrisette plays God in Kevin Smith's absurdist comic movie, Dogma. Morrisette unleashes a primal scream that can shatter eardrums She also does handstands in flower beds.

A prophet, played by Jason Mewes, admits he gets aroused kissing Her on the cheek.

Fallen angels portrayed by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon trade profane insults peppered with the f-word and slaughter dozens of people.

Jews are ridiculed for killing Christ. Catholics are made fun of for taking their Church too seriously.

Chris Rock plays the 13th apostle, and complains he's been forgotten in The Bible because of racial prejudice. A celestial creature played by Salma Hayek works as a stripper.

Satan's agents are teenage punks who do their dirty work on in-line skates and bludgeon their victims with hockey sticks.

Dogma, which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival at midnight last night, has fart jokes, foul language, senseless violence and features a gigantic Satanic monster made entirely of human excrement.

The wryly funny Smith and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein claim they don't think Dogma is going to cause any controversy.

Originally made for Miramax, which is owned by Disney and run by founder Weinstein, Dogma will now be released independently because of protest from religious groups. Weinstein has bought the $10 million movie back and plans to sell it to a separate distributor for U.S. release.

"The movie is too adolescent to be taken seriously," Smith said at a press conference.

"I don't think it's going to cause a firestorm at all," Weinstein said in an impromptu press gathering outside the Cannes cinema where the movie was screened before its official midnight gala debut. "The only firestorm will come from the press but the audience will find the movie."

"I think they're easy targets," Weinstein said of the Disney connection to his Miramax company. "So, if you remove the target, the movie lives on its own. It's a comic fantasy, this movie, and it shouldn't be embroiled in this controversy."