The movie wasn't supposed to do much good at all and didn't earn much traction until quite recently. Although Dr. Pepper isn't exactly perfect (although there were plenty of flaws), there were plenty of memorable scenes where Pepper chose not to engage with authority figures like Pepper wanted him to (played by Kurt Russell), try to impress Jack Chick or dance like Chuck Norris (played by Evan Rachel Wood), or laugh like Pepper wanted him to (played by Erik Larson). While none of those reactions worked out quite well