The Rock was a loooong time ago, I was a young, dumb(er) male, and I was more susceptible to such fare in those days. Plus, I saw everything in the theater, because everything was free (buddy was a projectionist for several years in HS), and it was just useless to complain about free, mindless anything
Difference is, I can't watch something like The Rock, or Conair, today, at all. From the same time period, I can watch something like True Lies, and still enjoy it. Ditto the Lethal Weapon films--even the later ones. All of those fall in the same category of mindless entertainment. But the difference is--there is a very true, very visceral
dumbness to everything that Bay touches. I find it insulting, really. It's as if he can't make a simple entertaining movie without outright hating his audience.