The film was a HUGE success for me. No matter what criticisms you have after the fact, before the fact, this was an impending disaster. Rocky 5 was awful and now Sly was 105 years old. Then we find out that the opponents name is Mason Dixon. That was enough for most.

I liked the novelty of it but expected it to be painstakingly bad and cheesy. That's how everyone felt, it was very widely poked at, and it turned out to be good.

Look at expectations before the movie and no one expected it to be good. Then it was very good.