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Where's Poppa?

Play trailer Poster for Where's Poppa? R 1970 1h 22m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
82% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 69% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
New York lawyer Gordon (George Segal) has no personal life. Instead, his time outside work is spent looking after his senile, demanding mother (Ruth Gordon), who sabotages his potential relationships. Finally, he meets a woman unafraid of her, nurse Louise Callan (Trish Van Devere). For them to get married, Gordon's mother must go. But when his brother refuses to help, Gordon must find a way to dispose of the old woman, whether that means finding a nursing home or taking more extreme measures.

Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 10/23/2004
3/4
Go if you want to laugh and like being offended. Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 05/15/2021
2/4
...a promising setup that's employed to progressively erratic (and downright tedious) effect... Go to Full Review
John Mahoney Los Angeles Free Press 01/13/2020
Perhaps Carl Reiner, who directed this latrine etching, hoped to show in some black comedy fashion the tragedy of the aged? Go to Full Review
Fernando F. Croce CinePassion 10/21/2010
Risky Freudian punchlines Go to Full Review
Chuck O'Leary Fantastica Daily 09/27/2005
3/5
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/05/2005
3/5
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Audience Reviews

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@Manpuppy Dec 13 Whoa. This did not stand the test of time. Don't. Just don't. Not even funny in a quaint way now. See more s r @ScottR 08/18/2021 Props for the edge, this one was really out there. But, it was original, legit and hilarious. Saw on TCM. See more jon c 11/10/2020 How much of your mother can you stand your entire adult life? Based on the book by Robert Klane starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon A lawyer named Gordon can't escape his senile mother Hocheiser. All he wants is to have a life of his own and even he knows she can't live forever. She has to be taken care of. Gordon wants to put her in a nursing home and he's getting married. Much of the women he's dated in the past can't put up with her but Gordon finally finds someone who can stand her ground. This nurse Louise played by Trish Van Devere falls for him hard as does he. His mother is a stubborn woman though and it's going to take more than forcing her to stay elsewhere to see reason. Even Gordon's brother won't help him so he's left to fend on his own. It's funny because this man has endless fantasies about his mother leaving to seeing this nurse in a brides dress. The title also points to Mrs. Gordon asking all the time where is Gordon's papa. As you can tell she's so senile she refuses to let go. The movie ended up being more enjoyable than I thought. It's full of good laughs, a jazzy soundtrack, and genuinely realistic characters. There's also this really funny gag involving a gorilla suit. Who can compete with someone's parent when age and memory start to show? Most of us when we reach that peak in our lives refuse to change. Sooner or later all of us need to start having lives aside from our folks. The film is quite a silly time and isn't afraid to make Freudian humor. George Segal is so terrific next to Ruth Gordon. It's a believable relationship between mother and son that gets so ridiculous it's touching. See more 07/01/2020 The nonagenarian (not a word you get to use often, so you always should when you can) Reiner left behind him a matchless comedic legacy across multiple media, from records to TV to film—but even towering legends can make a few clunkers like this poorly paced, badly titled, and sorely outmoded black comedy. See more @TMProofreader 05/05/2019 The best comedy movie ever made! See more 11/30/2015 I definitely would have tightened the slack pace of this--it seems perhaps 15 or 20 minutes too long, and really lags in spots--but it has some really excellent ideas and, in its basic underlying tenet of adult siblings trying to take care of their elderly parents, yet at the same time having fulfilling lives of their own, remains unfortunately very timely. I'm NOT a George Segal fan in the slightest (in both his previous roles in 'Ship of Fools' and 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf', he seems to think that simply by screaming at someone, that it inherently means 'range' and 'intensity'), but his work here is solid and he makes you care about his character's plight enough to actually empathize with his situation and root for him as a result. Solid work--and director Carl's son Rob is absolutely hilarious in a rare, pre-'All in the Family' performance. Good stuff here--contemporary PC-awareness notwithstanding, of course... ;) See more Read all reviews
Where's Poppa?

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Movie Info

Synopsis New York lawyer Gordon (George Segal) has no personal life. Instead, his time outside work is spent looking after his senile, demanding mother (Ruth Gordon), who sabotages his potential relationships. Finally, he meets a woman unafraid of her, nurse Louise Callan (Trish Van Devere). For them to get married, Gordon's mother must go. But when his brother refuses to help, Gordon must find a way to dispose of the old woman, whether that means finding a nursing home or taking more extreme measures.
Director
Carl Reiner
Producer
Jerry Tokofsky
Screenwriter
Robert Klane
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
United Artists
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 1, 1970, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 4, 2021
Runtime
1h 22m
Sound Mix
Mono