kevin smith is like a big kid . 
his humor is that of a sophisticated juvenile's . 
he grew up idolizing star wars and loves comic books , having also written a few . 
he also has a cult following , mostly composed of teenagers , college students , and smith's own fellow adolescent-minded grownups . 
smith is hilarious in person and in writing , but when he tries to be earnest and moralize , that is when he goes wrong . 
kevin smith is a better writer than director , and he'll be the first to tell you that . 
that might also be part of the reason why his moralizing comes across as so heavy-handed . 
great directors show us their theses instead of having the characters sermonize them . 
this was true in the overrated chasing amy , and it is true for dogma as well . 
that is not to say smith's message is a bad one . 
in dogma , smith tells us that problems arise when people believe beyond any doubt that their insight into god and god's desires is superior to anyone else's . 
basically , dogmatism is bad . 
changing the minds of the dogmatic is virtually impossible , and since the dogmatic believe that they have special insight , they also know what is best for you , whether you like it or not . 
this is not exactly a new message in movies ( see inherit the wind ) , but i have no problems with recycling old ones , particularly since dogma's protesters are proving smith's point . 
smith's own problem with delivering this message is that he beats us over the head with it like we are reading a dogma for dummies book . 
but this is smith's personality , and his simplistic views neglect such adult issues as how does one interpret the bible ( or koran , etc . ) correctly ( or if there even is a correctly ) and how one settles disputes of heretofore dogmatic concerns . 
the story concerns abortion clinic worker bethany ( linda fiorentino ) being chosen by voice of god , metatron ( alan rickman ) , to prevent the destruction of the universe by two fallen angels , bartleby ( ben affleck ) and angel of death , loki ( matt damon ) . 
along the way , forgotten thirteenth apostle , rufus ( chris rock ) , stripper muse serendipity ( salma hayek ) , and slacker duo jay and silent bob ( jason mewes and kevin smith himself ) come to bethany's aid . 
fallen muse , azrael ( jason lee ) , proves to be the behind-the-scenes manipulator for all the chicanery . 
the logical but convoluted plot only exists as an excuse for the jokes and to make smith's points , and in itself , has little dramatic momentum . 
among the supposedly outrageous claims made by the film is that god is a woman , jesus was black , and the bible was written by a bunch of racist , misogynistic white men . 
of course , kevin smith does not necessarily subscribe to these ideas himself . 
they are a metaphor for the fears and insecurities of the dogmatic . 
smith says as much in his amusing disclaimer that precedes the movie . 
when harvey weinstein asked smith to put it into the film before cannes , smith thought it might give validation to protesters' claims that the film was sacrilegious , but then he rethought it and turned the disclaimer into a joke . 
the film's humor is uneven . 
some parts are very funny as when bethany goes for a fire extinguisher when metatron makes a burning-bush kind of entrance . 
but many of the film's jokes just bomb , as in virtually anything involving salma hayek's serendipity . 
also , some of the jokes can be seen coming from a mile away . 
still , smith keeps the zingers coming at a sufficiently rapid pace . 
among the actors , fiorentino and rickman stand out by far . 
fiorentino virtually by herself gives the film emotional weight . 
damon and affleck are fairly lackluster . 
rock and hayek exist in the film pretty much only as comic relief as are mews and smith . 
but the latter duo fare much better because jay and silent bob , who recur in all of smith's movies , are much more in line with smith's brand of humor . 
bud cort , george carlin , janeane garofalo , guinevere turner , and alanis morissette all make cameo appearances .