Completely agree - HDR isn't always good. I feel there are two ways to look at it...... It can be seen as a method of expanding the range of luminosity captured by your camera, so that you will get details in both the highlights and the shadows simultaneously...... or, it becomes an art form in its own way - though in my opinion I think it works best inside buildings.
The human eye can pick out details in both highlights and shadows, and yet we expect photographs to have dark and light areas - and when we see such a range, particularly outdoors, the eye/brain combination presses an alarm to say, "Hey that's not right".
The best uses I've yet seen for HDR have been in very difficult lighting situations - contra jour, or wherever there's a full range of "black to white" or, better still, inside churches and old factories or farm buildings.
I used to belong to an HDR Group on Flickr, and I was impressed by a professional use, in a non-artistic way, of HDR.......... a realtor (estate agent in English) used the techniques for his pictures inside houses - it put details into the shadow areas and reduced highlights - including providing the ability to see the view outside through a window! I also discovered some absolutely wonderful HDR pictures taken inside churches - old ones, with small windows and painted walls, ceilings and sculptures.