"Where's Poppa?" is the sort of movie that only Carl Reiner could direct and could probably only release around 1970. Casting George Segal as a lawyer still having to care for his demented, clingy mother (Ruth Gordon) - even though he's now found his dream-girl (Trish Van Devere) - the whole movie really goes all out. There are some scenes where, even though they set up what's about to happen, it's just a total hoot to watch it happen...especially everything that happens in the park! My point is, this is a true black comedy classic. But don't take my word for it; just watch the movie. Watch for some cast members in before-they-were-famous roles: Rob Reiner as Segal's courtroom defendant (in a role not far from Meathead on "All in the Family"),Penny Marshall as one of the courtroom spectators (though she doesn't have any lines),and future "Saturday Night Live" cast member Garrett Morris as one of the men in the park.

This was probably considered ahead of its time in 1970, a black comedy about a single man stifled by taking care of his mother, wondering where poppa is after he allegedly took off years ago for probably a good reason. George Segal is long-suffering, desperate to have a decent career and a romantic social life, but he's stuck taking care of shut-in mother Ruth Gordon who is tweetier than a cartoon canary. How Segal managed to get a law degree and not get kicked off the bar for his incompetence is beyond reasoning, and it seems that the few cases he gets are open and shut against him. He desperately needs to find a full time nurse to take care of mom, but it seems that either word has gotten around about her or New York has just run out of caregivers. Along comes Trish Van Devere, sweet but rather neurotic, a woman whose one claim to a romantic night ended up with her lover leaving waste of the human kind on her sheets.

Mom is none other than that sweet old doll Ruth Gordon, fresh from her Oscar winning role in another Manhattan/Central Park area set film, "Rosemary's Baby", where her character of Minnie Castavette was charming but secretly deadly. Here, she's a complete embarrassment of senior living, one who points out to prospective dates the size of Segal's anatomy, then squeezes his touche like it was the Charmin to show her possession of him. He tries several ways to get rid of her, even dressing up as a gorilla to frighten her to death. Ron Liebman plays his brother who lives across the park and has the recurring realistic nightmare of getting robbed every time he crosses through by the very same gang. There's no way to get rid of her besides throwing her from a train than just dropping and running after leaving her with the first available senior rest home Segal can find.

My rating for this is based upon my first viewing of it about ten years ago, feeling sad that even such a commentary on aging human beings could warrant a comedy. Certainly things can get out of hand trying to take care of someone who is beyond basic care, but the way this is presented often has eye-raising developments. The whole Central Park sequence with Liebman is disturbing for its racial stereotypes then a joke about rape and a twist about the alleged victim. It is an extended sequence of dubious taste that probably won't fly in 2020 as it did 50 years before. Still, Gordon and Segal give it their all and seem to be taking the controversial subject matter lightly, and director Hal Ashby has a way of making you feel sorry for Segal while wishing there were alternatives than how the ending turns out.

George Segal lives with his elderly and senile mother. There are many jokes about her Alzheimer's-like dementia and most of them aren't funny, though there were a few funny moments sprinkled in here and there (such as the nude running through the park scene and the old folks home). At first, Segal tries to kill his mother because she's tough to live with and because he's a selfish guy. Making the film sort of like a Wiley Coyote versus the Roadrunner comedy where he tries again and again to kill this indestructible gal would have been a hoot--too bad this was NOT the overall tone of the film.

I do applaud Carl Reiner's attempt to make a tasteless film that is intended to offend everyone. I have a special place in my heart for films like ED AND HIS DEAD MOTHER, EATING RAOUL and HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS--all films about death that dare to offend. The problem here, though, is that WHERE'S POPPA? has some funny moments, but it also has a lot of flat ones and the overall product is amazingly bland. Plus topics such as homosexual rape, incest and the like are really difficult to make funny. I read in "THE ROUGH GUIDE TO CULT MOVIES" that it is considered a cult film, though I just can't see anyone wanting to see this more than once.