Gael Garcia Bernal is Mexico's hottest young actor, with two nationally and internationally acclaimed films under his belt - "Amores Perros" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien." While the popularity of his latest project, "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" ("The Crime of Father Amaro") rivals that of the first two - being the highest-grossing film in Mexican history - its feeble artistic merits suffer from the contrast with Bernal's previous masterpieces. Adapted from the 1875 Portuguese novel by Eca de Queiroz and directed by Carlos Carrera, "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" is a fictional expos of the Mexican Catholic Church, mocking its alleged devotion to the community, the clergy and the vow of celibacy.

The young protagonist, Father Amaro, is a recently ordained priest who arrives in the town of Los Reyes, Mexico to assist the ailing Father Benito (Sancho Gracia). From the get-go, Amaro's timid and virtuous heartthrob charm set the stage for good old Spanish soap opera drama and a caricature of church perversion. After only a few brief and awkward verbal exchanges, as well as an occasional stolen touch, Amaro takes the 16-year-old Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancon) into his bed. Aside from her depiction as a mere child - albeit a physically well-developed one - the perversity of the affair is based on Amelia's projection of fierce religious piety onto the lustful figure of the new priest, and is highlighted by the groans of a mentally retarded girl, which accompanies their secret love-making.

While Amaro desecrates the vow of celibacy, Benito - who is also having an affair - demonstrates the church's socio-political corruption. To obtain funds for the construction of a new clinic, Benito upholds a personal and financial relationship with the region's drug lord, with the knowledge - if not the approval - of the diocese. Meanwhile, another priest is suspected of assisting guerrilla troops in the highlands, further ridiculing the hypocritical nature of the church.

While the plot is engaging and the actors exceptionally talented, the overload of sardonic disclosure and romantic melodrama detract from the film's attempt at being an intriguing social commentary. Perhaps the current church scandals have raised our threshold for moral and institutional degeneracy, given that a consensual affair between a 16-year-old girl and a 24-year-old priest is far less shocking than many of the recently publicized incidents.

Not all of its commentary is trite, however. The fascinating suggestion that religious devotion is only a sublimation of repressed lust justifies the drama of Amaro's relationship with Amelia. In a distinctly memorable scene, Amaro cloaks the naked Amelia in the robe of the icon of the Virgin Mary, kindling a passion that more closely resembles the intensity of prayer than that of erotic love.

Another saving grace of the film is that Amaro's apparent goodness craftily crumbles under his ambition, weakness and error of judgment. In the end, the audience wonders who is worse - Father Benito, who uses dirty money for a laudable cause, or Amaro, who ignores the parish's corruption and Amelia's desire for legitimate love in the name of serving the Church.

It is that afterthought - as well as Bernal's unsurpassable charm - that absolves "El Crimen del Father Amaro" of its unexpected shortcomings.