Why is this movie rated so low?

I actually enjoyed hairspray. It's not a great movie or anything, but it's not bad. I thought Hot Fuzz was really funny too.

And you gotta understand something. Hairspray has John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and Jerry Stiller. These are legends with a built-in audience. Each of these must have thousand of fans who are willing to watch anything they are in. And since they are fans, they would probably be a little more linient with the rating. And there is Zac Efron. Knowing Disney's powerful marketing department, Zac Efron must have a few thousands screaming pre-teen little girls who would gladly watch anything he's in.

If you dont believe me, go to Dungeon Siege's imdb page and look up the breakdown of the rating. The average male rated it a 3.3, while and average female gave it a 7.5. The reason is probably because the star of the movie is Jason Statham.

I am in no way bashing the French actors, but being a star in Hollywood means being a known to the world.

To take your question seriously, the reason is quite simple: it is the least of writer/director Veber's movies, including the many he wrote but did not direct. It's a slight idea for a film, weakly developed and lacking the involvement and emotional commitment of his best work with Depardieu, Villeret, Pierre Richard and others. The beautiful model as leading lady is a blank -even the "making of" short subject indicates how casting of her role is crucial to making the film work, and in fact bad casting caused it not to work. Also, to compare it with another recent film teaming Dany Boon and Daniel Auteuil made by Patrice Leconte, "The Valet" has no impact whatsoever. It's a time killer.

So within the tiny universe of "Francis Veber films" this is in the lowest percentile. If a fan gives his best work a 10, then that same fan would give this one something closer to 5. And non-fans would hardly become converts after seeing such a trifle as their introduction to his work.

"Three quarters of what is said here can be completely discounted as the raving of imbeciles" - Donald Wolfit in Blood of the Vampire (1958)