Never have I been as happy to see a half-hearted attempt at a video game cinematic adaptation debut as I was when I saw that Max Payne had knocked Beverly Hills Chihuahua off the top spot.

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Max Payne opened this weekend in the U.S. at number 1 with a respectable — given the time of year it is — $18 million. Based on the video game of the same name, the movie took a different, more ethereal approach to a game that was, for all intents and purposes, a fantastic shoot-em-up.

Sadly, Beverly Hills Chihuahua took second spot, showing once again that no matter how bad a movie is there will still be people who want to see it. Over and over and over and”¦ It managed to pull in $11.2 million this weekend, only just ahead of The Secret Life of Bees, which took third spot and $11 million. I’m not sure what it’s about, but it has Dakota Fanning in it, along with Queen Latifah and Paul Bettany, so I might go see it anyway.