With Kevin Smith’s Dogma, it seems as if the Church has sunk to new lows. While going out of its way to openly mock organized religion, Dogma is probably the biggest pro-God film in decades. It’s an effective portrayal of redemption and faith that will really make people think about their current religious beliefs, and it does it in a way that doesn’t hit you over the head. Perhaps the Catholic Church is frightened that its flock will see the film and then question the word that has been spoon-fed to them over the years. God forbid people think for themselves.

When Dogma had its US premiere, throngs of vocal protestors yelled at people entering the theater. As Smith (Chasing Amy) hit the red carpet, he tried to explain to them that his movie was a "really devout, pro-faith" film. But as right-wing protest organizer C. Preston Noell III of The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property later explained, Smith was wrong. How fortunate for this talented filmmaker to come across someone able to point out to him that a film that he wrote and directed is not what he thinks it is. Noell also stated that the movie is "made by sad, silly people who, in effect, are puppets manipulated by the devil" and that his 200,000 group members planned to picket theaters once the film opened nationally. When asked what he specifically objected to, Noell admitted that he had not seen the film. Understandable, since siphoning money from the wallets of your followers has got to be pretty time-consuming.

So who do you believe? The "puppets manipulated by the devil" or the puppets manipulated by the Catholic Church? See the movie and judge for yourself. You can’t be damned to spend eternity in a lake of fire just from watching a movie. Not with today’s ticket prices. If you sneak in without paying, that’s another story. And if you’re still scared, stay home and watch CBS’s prime-time line-up.

Dogma opens (after a hilarious disclaimer discussing film critics and platypuses) on the steps of a Red Bank, New Jersey church, where Cardinal Glick (George Carlin, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) is holding a press conference to announce the launch of the new "Catholicism – WOW" campaign that hopes to plant more asses in church pews. In addition to a new breakfast cereal (the wafer-like Hosties) and the new "Buddy-Christ" (a winking, smiling Jesus giving a thumbs-up), Glick also explains that this particular church is home to an all-forgiving arch that will erase the sins of anyone that passes through it.

News of the arch makes it to Wisconsin, where two fallen angels named Loki (Matt Damon, Rounders) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck, Forces of Nature) have spent their days since being banished from Heaven. Loki and Bartleby used to carry out God’s dirty work - back when he was vengeful - and see the arch as one last chance to escape the banality of Wisconsin for the posh confines of Heaven’s paradise. The trouble is that if Loki and Bartleby are forgiven, it will prove God’s fallibility, which will cause the world to end.

But God is wise to Loki and Bartleby’s plans and dispatches angel Metatron (Alan Rickman, Sense and Sensibility) to urge a mortal into a crusade to stop the duo. The mortal is Bethany (Linda Fiorentino, Men in Black), an Illinois Planned Parenthood employee that has recently found herself doubting her Catholic beliefs. Although she initially believes Metatron’s visit was just a bad dream, Bethany reluctantly hits the road, meeting - in Wizard of Oz fashion - two horny prophets (Smith’s recurring characters Jay and Silent Bob), a forgotten thirteenth Apostle named Rufus (Chris Rock, Lethal Weapon 4) and a stripper/muse named Serendipity (Salma Hayek, Wild Wild West).

Other uniquely cast roles include Bud Cort (Harold & Maude) as a homeless man and best-selling crooner Alanis Morissette as God. If it sounds like too much, it really is – especially Hayek’s unnecessary character and the scene with the poop monster. Dogma is unrelentingly and blisteringly hysterical, which, in measured doses, is fantastic. Unfortunately here, like South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, it becomes tiresome after a while, leaving the film with a very uneven feel. But this can easily be overlooked, if not just for being an incredible commercial for the very people that are trying to convince you not to see it. That is perhaps a greater irony than anything in Smith’s script.

2:10 - for strong language including sex-related dialogue, violence, crude humor and some drug content