George Segal is aces as Gordon Hocheiser, a harried defence attorney who is forced to deal with the senility of his aged mother (a most amusing Ruth Gordon). He hires a young woman, Louise Callan (Trish Van Devere, in the role that introduced her), to look after the old bat, and promptly falls in love with Louise. As mom proceeds to make a shambles of Gordons' life, "Where's Poppa?" takes aim at a couple of elements in classic black-humour fashion: muggings, rape, inadequate nursing homes, life in NYC, etc. It's all outrageously done, with a hilariously profane script (by Robert Klane, based on his novel) and some memorable bits.
Carl Reiner directs with gusto, mining many laughs from the material with the help of this willing cast, which includes a number of familiar faces. (His meathead son Rob appears in a courtroom sequence as a kid with a very anti-military attitude.) In this very politically correct climate that we now live in, some people may find some of this stuff extremely offensive, but others will be delighted that Reiner and his cast & crew throw such caution to the winds. No matter your sensibilities, however, you have to admit that the "tushie" scene is hysterical. Kudos to Segal and Gordon for just going for it. The film was reissued as "Going Ape!", owing to the fact that a gorilla costume plays into the plot more than once. As the film opens, Gordon attempts to scare mom to death by dressing in the costume and surprising her in her bed.
Among the recognizable actors who turn up are Ron Leibman (as Gordon's oft-victimized brother Sidney), Barnard Hughes, Vincent Gardenia, Paul Sorvino (also making his film debut), Michael McGuire, Garrett Morris, Helen Martin, Tom Atkins, and Alice Drummond. Leibman is particularly funny as he must resign himself to being mugged by the same gang every time he runs through Central Park. Penny Marshall, Rob R.'s future wife, has an uncredited bit as a courtroom spectator.
While it's unfortunate that more daring comedies such as this couldn't be made today, at least "Where's Poppa?" still exists on DVD and Blu-ray for people to enjoy.
This originally came with an ending (available as a bonus feature on the aforementioned discs) that was seen as *too* potent, and subsequently got changed.
Eight out of 10.
