In 1999 Kevin Smith had the same idea as everyone else, to make a millenarianist flick based on some dodgy observations about Catholicism. He must've been happy with his ensemble — a happy-ish looking Ben Affleck and his up-for-it mate Matt Damon, game abortionist Linda Fiorentino, eye-rolling Chris Rock, stripper Salma Hayek and of course his over- or under-sexed bestie Jason Mewes. Alan Rickman played the voice of God who is in turn mutely mimed by Alanis Morissette. The plot moves everyone from the Midwest (Wisconsin, Illinois) to New Jersey for reasons I didn't quite catch. It's so scattershot and in love with its own brilliance that I struggled to engage; I felt I was more laughing at than with, and not that often. It is only likely to trigger those with a deeply literal take on things.
Roger Ebert: three-and-a-half stars. Being a Catholic probably helped; the excess exposition did not. Janet Maslin.
