Two banished angels Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have discovered a loophole that would allow them back into heaven; problem is, they'd destroy civilization in the process by proving God fallible. It's up to Bethany Linda Fiorentino, a lapsed Catholic who works in an abortion clinic, to save the day, with some help from two so-called prophets Smith and Jason Mewes, as their perennial characters Jay and Silent Bob, the heretofore unknown 13th apostle Chris Rock, and a sexy, heavenly muse the sublime Salma Hayek, who almost single-handedly steals the film. In some ways Dogma is a shaggy dog of a road movie--which hits a comic peak when Affleck and Fiorentino banter drunkenly on a train to New Jersey, not realizing they're mortal enemies--and segues into a comedy-action flick as the vengeful angels who have a taste for blood try to make their way into heaven. Smith's cast is exceptional--with Fiorentino lending a sardonic gravity to the proceedings, and Jason Lee smirking evilly as the horned devil Azrael--and the film shuffles good-naturedly to its climax featuring Alanis Morissette as a beatifically silent God, but it just looks so unrelentingly... subpar. Credit Smith with being a daring writer but a less-than-stellar director. --Mark Englehart