What's really so wrong about Wild Hogs, huh? Honestly. If there's one movie that really got improperly maligned this year it is this little, tiny, insignificant… huge freaking hit. And out of this year's films for which there was a giant gap in the critic to box office ratio, this one takes the cake. Having made close to $170 Million (in the US alone) this is far and away one of the biggest non-summer released films of the year. So why have the critics been so savage?

Quite simply because it wasn't made for them. And when a film like this reaches out to a more mainstream audience and attempts to satisfy Middle America, many critics sharpen their teeth and ready themselves to draw blood. It is elitism, pure and simple. Now did I, a critic, even like Wild Hogs? Hell, no. It was hard for me to sit through and I'll never in a million years watch it again. But that doesn't mean I can't acknowledge that it wasn't made for me. I sat. I watched it. And I thought, "Oh, they made this for my mom." And no, I'm not saying my mom is in any way mentally deficient. What I am saying is that my mom watches Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

What kills me is that when Robert Rodriguez pulls Michael Biehn out of direct-to-video/cable TV hell to appear as the town cop in Planet Terror, we critics laugh and applaud, because we get the joke. "DUDE! That's the guy from Aliens and The Terminator!" When Quentin Tarantino pulls Pam Grier out of obscurity to make a film, we salute him. And when Rob Zombie digs up horror actors who haven't worked since flare collars were all the rage, we feel it gives him cred. And we say so in print. Because it makes us look smart. If you doubt any of this, go back and read how many critics felt the need to share that they recognized Roman Polanski in their Rush Hour 3 reviews.

But when a movie like Wild Hogs has Ty from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition renovate a biker bar, or the guys from American Chopper stop by to have a chat, all of a sudden the director is appealing to the lowest common denominator. Come on. Really? Because The Terminator, blacksploitation, and '70s splatter films are high art?

Get over yourselves. You aren't the audience for this and you know it. And there is nothing wrong with that. I may not have caught (or simply didn't enjoy) all the modern pop culture references, but you know what I noticed when I was sitting in Wild Hogs? I couldn't hear the movie at times over the sound of howling laughter. I could hate every frame of this movie if I wanted to, but it was making people laugh. A lot. Not in a hateful way. Not at any class, or size or type of person. At William H. Macy falling off of a bike. Is there really anything wrong with that?

People keep asking about the critic to audience disconnect and I tell you the answer is right here in Wild Hogs. If you're a critic but you can't tell when a film is aimed at a different audience than you, there's a chance you're in the wrong profession. It's alright to dislike Wild Hogs. I sure do. But come on, why all the hate? Was it really that offensive? Or was it just not your thing? Me? I walked out of this and called my mother. "Mom, you gotta see Wild Hogs this weekend!" She did. And she loved it. Especially the part where Ty showed up. That was her favorite.

C. Robert Cargill - - - Email Me

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Austin-based Cargill, who not only loves but owns The Cutting Edge, writes on movies and DVD five times a week.