It could have been much better.

It was about on par with Total Recall. A brief nod to the original material, and then goes off on it's own. In instances like that I judge the movie separately from the source material.

I don't think that principle will apply to Hitchhiker's, though.

Not at all.

it looks stupid from the previews, I'll wait for it to come on cable.

Of course it looks stupid.

It's meant to be stupid.

If it doesn't look stupid it hasn't been done right.

No, I haven't seen it yet. I'll hopefully be able to let you know if it's actually stupid within the next week or so.