Halliday was especially an unfortunate aspect as he is such a stigmatized stereotype and extremely problematic at the same time, but very little is done to condemn him but instead write it off as "what could've been". Left a poor taste in my mouth in that way.
Wade and Samantha's romance is bizarrely handled... she states she has an ethical and moral obligation but we just find out she's sensitive about a rather mundane birthmark on her face. And that confession of love I guess ain't so creepy anymore?
The IOI villains though, LMAO. The entire third act tries to balance the stakes but goes in such a ridiculous manner that I couldn't help to roll my eyes. Not only is mining suspense off of Wade literally trying to accomplish a post-game reward sequence but the fact that Nolan and his henchwoman actually keep trying to kill the dude when THE ENTIRE THING IS BEING BROADCAST WORLDWIDE AND NOLAN IS AWARE OF THIS, is stunningly hilarious. Also when easily hundreds of people try to confront Nolan, but step out of his way because he has a gun (HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE) and is apparently ready to MURDER WADE with a bunch of kids in plain sight, with a un-corrupt and existing police force that just conveniently doesn't show up until the very end despite pure chaos in Columbus... I was eye roll city with how forced this was.
Oh yea, not to mention when they trick Nolan into thinking he's not in the Oasis and it takes him way, way too long to check if he's still wearing his damn helmet visor. I just... I just couldn't.
But when the film wants to just dumb, rollicking fun and can actually accomplish that without being absurdly idiotic, it's enjoyable. The pop culture is not nearly as bad as the book. I dunno, it's a mixed bag.