It was definitely not a run-of-the-mill release, and was definitely not well received. My impression of the poor reception was that people were likely expecting something a bit more serious. This one came out a few months after the well-received Iron Man, and after three X-Men films. Those ones seem to have a different tone, if you consider that The Spirit is pretty insouciant in its attempts at humor. I guess it always puzzled me that Sin City had a generally luke-warm reception, while this film was so severely looked down upon; they're pretty similar, I think.

I thought this film ended up being exactly what it was supposed to be, but maybe wasn't marketed very well. Perhaps it wasn't released at the most opportune time.