Alanis Morissette might not speak a word in Kevin Smith's new film, Dogma, but her role's still a scream -- literally. When Morissette, as God, pops down to earth to prevent a threatening apocalypse, she knows her spoken words are too much for the humble human ear to handle. So she does the next best thing. She screams (and even then, human heads -- in this case Ben Affleck's -- explode).

Smith, the writer/director of such contemporary comedies as Clerks and Chasing Amy, makes a number of quirky casting choices in Dogma. Comedians George Carlin and Chris Rock put in appearances, respectively, as the modern-minded Cardinal Glick; and Rufus, the 13th apostle, written out of the bible -- Rufus claims -- because he's black. Cult film favorites Bud Cort, Janeane Garofalo, and Guinevere Turner have cameos, and Smith himself has a largely non-verbal role as the aptly-named "Silent Bob."

Dogma's storyline concerns the Oz-styled journey Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) undertakes to stop two renegade angels (Affleck and Matt Damon) from destroying the world. Along the way, Bethany learns from Serendipity (Salma Hayek), a muse, that despite the male references in the bible, God is a she, not a he. So it's no surprise when Morissette finally materializes on earth, though few people would have pictured God wearing a white tutu.

Dogma is not Morissette's first foray into film. In her pre-Jagged Little Pill days, Morissette racked up credits on the Canadian TV shows You Can't Do That On Television and Music Works. Her film debut came in 1992, when she appeared as a singer in the made-for-TV movie Just One of the Girls, which aired once on the Fox network before being consigned to the abyss of the home video market.

Morissette's role in Dogma is actually more challenging than it might appear. With no dialogue to speak, Morissette can only rely on her facial expressions to convey her character. Morisette also performs the song "Still," which plays over the film's closing credits. Dogma might be overly long, clocking in at just over two hours, but Morissette's appearance, and song, bring the proceedings to a satisfying close.