Context?

I watched Storytelling the other day and enjoyed it quite a bit (not to say that it didn't have several glaring flaws). I've never seen any of Todd Solondz's previous work, however - is doing so somehow a necessary step to understanding this film? Evidently Paul Giamatti's character is supposed to be a take on Solondz himself, and the dissenting voices (Vi's classmates and Giamatti's editor) are supposed to be his critics. Most of the negative reviews I've read focused on this (mis)representation and Solondz's attempts to shock. Since I know nothing about the man's previous films and didn't find this one particularly 'shocking' (even without the red rectangle), I'd like to know if familiarity with his work made you folks more or less responsive to Storytelling? There seems to be a lot of baggage around this guy and I'm not sure it's warranted.