The audience laughed and clapped and cheered
Forget the comparison with other films. When an English audience watching subtitles can laugh so much during a film and give a standing ovation at the end - it can't be all bad. I have never seen that before. It was brilliant comedy that stands on its own.
You may put it down to english sense of humour. If you have seen John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, you will recognise that being acutely embarrassed for a character is intensely funny. For whatever reason it brings tears of laughter.
The only problem is being able to see it again. It won't be on general release and I still haven't found a DVD with subtitles to show my friends. And yes, I fear that any remake would lose the lyrical swedish voices - part of the comedy may be that us Brits do not expect Swedes to be so funny.