Posted by Silent Jeff at va-24-30-226-4.va.mediaone.net on November 26, 1999 at 12:30:22:
: If you are, I'd love a report.
Hey Kevin,
I took my fiancé to see Dogma for her birthday Wednesday night. Of course I went on opening night first, with two friends (yes, I have that many... but I pay them). Both nights, I laughed so fucking hard I couldn't stand it!
The opening night was the best, and the worst. The crowd here in Richmond, VA was packed, rowdy, and ready for some snoochin. We bought tickets 3 hours ahead of time, because as we suspected, the mother fucker did sell out for both eve shows. The worst for us, though, was getting back to the theater late, and by the time I got a soda and some corn with whipped lard, the only three seats left together were in the very front row, all the way to the left side! My view was totally askew! Cheers went up in mad props constantly throughout the movie, and especially at the end, during the-(what the hell do you call that in a film, anyway?!)-curtain call.
This past Wednesday night was cool because I could hear everything, but the lack of crowd due to pre-turkey day lull kind of sucked. I kept clapping, alone. At least my fiancé clapped, but I think that was just to make me feel better. I mean, she really liked the film, as I thought she would, but she's not often an applauder. Anyway, we live in a town that has a small film school, VCU. There were two grey haired guys there standing at the pisser after the film, discussing it. I listened:
Pisser 1: Well, that was interesting.
Pisser 2: What did you think of those cuts?
Pisser 1: They seemed like made for TV cuts.
Pisser 2: I don't think this film will ever be on TV.
Pisser 1: Well, they seemed pretty cheap.
Pisser 2: They didn't spend much on this film, obviously.
Pisser 1: Yeah, I think all the money went to pay the big names they had.
Pisser 2: Yeah, like Affleck.
Smartass Silent Jeff: I think you're missing the whole point of the cuts.
Silent Jeff: Look, I don't know if Affleck got paid a lot or a little. He likes Kevin Smith, and I know he said he did Mallrats for basically nothing, and this is his third film with Smith, now.
Silent Jeff: Kevin Smith.
Pisser 2: The director?
Silent Jeff: And the author. I'm sure that Kevin was looking for ways to make this film less. I know he said they wanted him to spend $6M on Mallrats, and he had a hard time doing that, because it seemed an inordinately high amount of cash. I think that's what he probably maintained for this.
Silent Jeff: I'm a Smith fan. Anyway, the cuts weren't to save money. They looked comic-bookish to me, which is expected.
Pisser 1: Why?
Silent Jeff: I can't talk to you.
Anyway, keep up the good work. One of my friends that went on opening night related a story from his return to the movie with another friend. He said these two old ladies sat down behind them. He said they looked like they were in the wrong theater, and he knew they wouldn't last long. They kept "oh my"ing through the beginning, so he turned around and shushed them. They left. I told him he should have turned around, and in a truly Jason Lee tone shouted, "Jesus CHRIST, lady!! Do you mind?! I'm trying to watch a fucking movie here!!!!!" Oh well.
: Keep your fingers crossed for a not-so-devastating drop-off.
Crossed. $17M, so far. How much did the studio spend on this film?
-Silent Jeff