Despite the welcome presence of a handful of appealing top-liners (Damon, Affleck, Rock), Kevin Smith's religious comedy is more reminiscent of the awful Mallrats than the excellent Chasing Amy. Laborious and heavy-handed as both writer and director, Smith introduces far too many characters for the film's own good, squandering any opportunity for coherence and clarity. Linda Fiorentino, ostensibly the central protagonist of the muddy narrative, comes off as bored and uninvolved in the action -- perhaps the greatest single blow to the picture. Also a disappointment is the usually tremendous Chris Rock, who seems lost amid the inflated number of cast members vying for screen time. Surprisingly, his disgruntled apostle Rufus takes a backseat to Jason Mewes' foul-mouthed Jay in the laugh-line department. Dogma's middle section fairly screams out to be trimmed to a reasonable length, but even that would not be enough to sort out the disorder and inconsistency that mark the film as one of Smith's lesser outings.
