I'm trying to think of other examples of that overflow effect, and failing

None are coming right to mind, but I know there was a point with Orson Scott Card where his works snapped into a pattern, and I couldn't like many of his books as much as I had before, because they didn't exist independently, instead drowning in the morass of the obsession of horrible things done to odd little boys.

My impression of Oliver Stone is that he has a schtick and it's very predictable so I can't imagine that he is as respected as he was way back when.

I don't know if the opposite -- a good movie that improves its mediocre brethren -- exists either.

I'm sure it does, though, as with other examples of badness bleeding out into other films, I'm coming up blank.

Hmmm.... I think the Devlin/Emmerich films might qualify for the badness side. It started with Stargate, which was okay, but less cereberal and more just SHINY that I was hoping it would be (I'm a firm believer that Big and Shiny and Crunchy/Thinky can coexist in the same movie, and I'm so glad for the recent spate of various superhero/girlie elf movies that prove me right).

After Stargate which was still good, but made to seem a little better than it was by the shiny, pretty much every movie Roland Emmerich has made has gotten worse and worse, while getting shinier and shinier. It's like he's the Uber-Bruckheimer.

Thankfully Devlin and Emmerich have parted ways. Day After Tomorrow (Emmerich) and Eight Legged Freaks (Devlin) make it clear which one in the partnership took all the Sturm und Drang a little too seriously, and which one had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

Although a quick check of IMDb seems to indicate that Devlin and Emmerich have future projects planned together, so maybe it's not curtains for those kooky kids yet.

Oh, here's an example: when I realized that Mel Gibson always plays the hero, even when his character is crazy annoying, suddenly his less-crazy, less-annoying heroes got less heroic. It was all that self-righteousness in Braveheart, compounded by his remaking Braveheart in Judaea with a bigger blood budget.

I'm sure there are people out there who do think it's a successful satire, including, apparently, the director, but I'm confident those people are also the ones who don't think Mike Douglas is a scary robot.

FWIW, I saw it (twice, once in the theatre, once at our post-Soldier beer fest and viewing), and each time found it pretty successful as satire. The people I saw it with all found it pretty successful as satire, and all of us think MD is a freakazoid.

This is not to say we didn't think it was tacky and over the top, because we did. We just happened to find it effective and amusing.

Of course, I'm also amused by Reno 911, in much the same way.

But Reno 911 has a completely different intent. Satire works best if it takes down authority rather than supporting it. Which is, on a tangential note, why The Office works, but those terrible Burger King commercials based on The Office in which all the workers rip on this one sorta pathetic guy -- why those don't work.

Does Oliver Stone have the same kind of respect from the critics that he did after Platoon came out?

I hope he forever has the same kind of respect from the critics that he did after U-Turn.

But Reno 911 has a completely different intent. Satire works best if it takes down authority rather than supporting it. Which is, on a tangential note, why The Office works, but those terrible Burger King commercials based on The Office in which all the workers rip on this one sorta pathetic guy -- why those don't work.

We didn't see it as supporting authority.

The Office doesn't work for me. It just makes me want to throw things at the TV, because it's a touch too close to life for comfort, and winds up feeling like a documentary rather than satire.

The Office doesn't work for me. It just makes me want to throw things at the TV, because it's a touch too close to life for comfort, and winds up feeling like a documentary rather than satire.

I've only seen bits of The Office, but the bits I've seen make me giggle.

However, after I started working in corporate offices, Dilbert became both a lot more and a lot LESS funny at the same time. A lot of strips seemed to be pulled straight out of my office, and while I still laughed, it was no longer with a smile on my face.

Okay, not the same as wanting to throw things at the TV, but still....

I alternate between feeling like throwing things at the TV and laughing my ass off with The Office. It's one of the few things I love madly but have to gear myself up to watch.

We didn't see it as supporting authority.

Yeah, I have friends who felt the same way about it. I just didn't see it that way.

The Office up there with What About Bob? on the list of comedies that are so well done that they're painful to watch. They're both hysterical, but too too real at times. (Especially the last few eps of S2, and the quiz bowl episode of S1 -- I'd laugh, but I can't stop cringing.)

My utter lack of interest in ever seeing another Verhoven film after Robo-Cop prevents me from having anything to say about Starship Troopers.