Rush Hour 2 (2001) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

Classic lowbrow movie, loved by pretty much everybody but the critics. 

It is rated a near-classic 7.2 at IMDb, consistently high across all demographic groups, and was immensely popular at the box office. It was among the top three films at the box office for the entire month of August. Three full months after it opened, it was still showing on 2100 screens (a signal of great word-of-mouth in the face of critical pans), and it finished with $226 million domestic gross on a budget of $90 million. It was the number #2 movie of the year before Harry Potter opened.

Possibilities:

1. Critics feel that their job is to tell you what they like, not to give you the information necessary to determine whether you will like it. They didn't like it, and they don't consider your potential enjoyment of the film to be germane to their reviewing process.
2. Many critics (and the academy) have no concept of what constitutes a good comedy. As I have written many times, they seem to think that humor is irrelevant to comedy. How many Oscars were awarded to Duck Soup and Blazing Saddles and Groundhog Day and South Park? Critics and the academy think a great example of a hilarious movie is Chocolat, or maybe The Gods Must Be Crazy.
3. In general, critics have no idea of what is necessary to make a movie that people will actually want to watch, and don't consider that information relevant to their job.

It sure leads you to ask why critics exist. I mean, don't you read the newspaper reviews to help you choose what you want to see? It's obvious that almost everyone wanted to see Rush Hour 2, and the continuing popularity of the film tells you that people liked it and told their friends to go see it. That seems to be reinforced by the high IMDb score. Yet virtually no major critic was able was explain or predict why this movie would be adored across the board by people of both sexes and in all age groups. If movie critics were sportswriters, they would all bet on the Detroit Lions.

"OK, Scoop, so if you're so frigging smart, why does everybody love this movie (except those paid to review it)?"

Sorry, I have no idea. 

I thought the film had a few laughs. Tucker was funny up to a point, but sometimes wandered far beyond that point and became grating. It was an OK entertainment movie in the silly suspension-of-belief genre (obviously, Tucker doesn't try to behave like a real cop), but I sure didn't smell $226 million coming, and I had no idea it would have such universal appeal.