Portrayals of God in popular media was Irvine Welsh's "The Granton Star Cause", which portrayed God as drunken and abusive. Ironically, the campaign backfired, only serving the advertise the film more widely. The role of God is a difficult one to play, and also a difficult one to cast. The casting of Alanis Morissette as God in "Dogma" was influenced by the singer's own public dialogue with her faith, as expressed in her songs. The casting of African American Morgan Freeman as God in "Bruce Almighty" took the movie stereotype of a "black angel" to a new level. On the subject of playing the role, Ella
Dogma (film) "Provocative and audacious, "Dogma" is an uneven but thoughtful religious satire that's both respectful and irreverent." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 62 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Some religious groupsin particular the activist Catholic Leaguedenounced the film as blasphemous. Other groups staged protests outside theaters screening the film; but "Chicago Sun-Times"s critic Roger Ebert noted that there was no official objection from the Catholic Church itself. "We are actually free in this country to disagree about religion," Ebert wrote, "and blasphemy is not a crime." Ebert awarded the film three-and-a-half stars