(InfoBeat) – Ah, controversy. Nothing like a good dust-up to lengthen the lines at the box office.

Case in point: “Dogma.” The Catholic Church has pretty much lambasted the latest from director Kevin Smith, who brought us the decidedly non-mainstream cult-favs “Clerks,” “Mallrats” and “Chasing Amy.” And what happens? The film opens to the second highest per-average screen take of the week and places third at the box. And, more importantly, it destroys the competition in InfoBeat’s Flicks Picks Movie Poll for films that opened last weekend.

“Dogma,” starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as two fallen angels who come to Earth to start apocalypse, earned a 52% “excellent” and another 23% “above average” marks. The only film of the five openers to come close was the 27% “excellent” earned by “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc,” another tale in which the Catholic Church figures prominently.

Here were some of the fervent comments from “Dogma” lovers:

“This movie was wickedly sinful, verging on blasphemous. It was absolutely hilarious but I think I need to go to confession now.”

“Thought-provoking and easily the funniest movie so far this year.”

“One of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. I laughed from beginning to end. This film has a great cast that works extremely well together. You absolutely have to see this movie!”

Religion, of course, wasn’t absent from comments we received, but had none of the vitriol that surfaced before the movie was even released – probably because many of those that might take offense were already staying away.

“I am a practicing Catholic, I found Dogma interesting and provocative. I think it probes faith in a way that needs to be addressed, organized religion and what it has done to faith, and how it relates to an individual’s personal relationship with God. I found particularly touching the profound sense of the pain of the loss of Heaven, on the part of the angels. On the strictly film side of it, I think it was somewhat uneven, a little too long, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were really effective. I am recommending this to my Catholic and Christian friends.”

“One of Smith’s best…I have no idea what the Catholic League’s gripes were about. This is a pro-faith movie if I have ever seen one…almost enough to make this hardened atheist go to church.”

The only negative comments – only 9% of respondents hated it – came from little gripes with the film itself: editing, script continuity, things like that.