By either critics or the general public. It made no blip on the radar at the time. I actually saw it in the theatre as a teenager and thought it was "meh." I liked Ralphie's Hershey syrup commercials much better than his mediocre movie.

I watched it again for the first time in 30+ years last year and had the same reaction: "meh."

It's not like "Citizen Kane" or "It's a Wonderful Life" which were vastly underappreciated at the times they came out but have since received their rightful acclaim for acting or film-making. Those are exceptional films that can be re-watched over and over.

It's a C-rate movie that has only gained notoriety IMO through the hundreds of thousands of cable re-reruns its received since the 1990's (the "Brady Bunch" effect). Not a great movie at all.

GO COUGS.