Just watched MTP last night for the first time in years and found -- unsurprisingly -- that I loved it as much as ever. I must admit, tho, that the knowledge that it was followed by two execrable sequels took some of the comedic sting out of the last couple minutes.
When Mr. & Mrs. Byrnes are settling into bed, all problems and misunderstandings seemingly resolved, and Mr. B suddenly blurts out: "I wonder what his parents are like," what had been a laugh-out-loud line now reads like nothing more than a set up for an already planned sequel. And the brilliant cut-to-black ending involving Greg's surveillance-camera karate routine has lost much of its punch, due to the inescapable knowledge that more -- and, sadly, less -- was in store for these cinematic characters. I still enjoy MTP, but I agree that it suffers from Traumatic Post-Sequel Syndrome.
And I don't think comparisons between MTP and the original Godfather and Star Wars films and their awful sequels are valid. I think the fact that those sequels came so many years after the originals makes it easier for devotees to mentally segregate the gold from the dross. Also, those films exist on a plane far above MTP, all but immune to the later, ill-advised depredations of their creators.
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