Rating: 
Summary: oldie but goodie
Review: I saw this for the first time back when it came out. It was hysterical then and still is. Sure, it hits some raw nerves but then hacking up teenagers does too. In this case, it's just fun. I'd recommend it to anyone who's in the mood for a good time. It seems to say things that we all think but would never confess anyway. Ranks even higher than Harold and Maude and I gave that 4.5 stars. Buy it and laugh......
Rating: 
Summary: Classic comedy, but marred by slow scenes
Review: I was all of 13 when this came out way back in 1970. I saw it for the first time in 73 and have seen it many times over the years.
It redicules the way we deal with the elderly very sharply and is replete with tasteless jokes. The first courtroom scene with Bernard Hughes as an Army Colnel ranting about killing [asians], while being heckled by peacenik Rob Reiner, is one of the funniest moments of dark comedy ever filmed. There's also the character of Syd, played by Ron Liebman, who runs across Central Park regularly when Mama goes off the deep end, only to be mugged by the same gang every night. Look for a young Garret Morris of SNL there. And who could forget Ruth Gordon as Mama, pulling down her son Gordon's pants in front of his date at the dinner table and biting him on the tush?
Unfortunately, there's too much dead weight in between the funny scenes, but those comic scenes are so far out and good that they make the shortcommings bearable.
I can hardly think of another film as politically incorrect as this. The possible exception being "Watermelon Man" with Godfrey Cambridge and Estelle Parsons. They don't make em like that anymore for fear of offending. The American public needs to lighten up
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't Really Work Either Way
Review: I've just re-watched this film & was surprised to find that different videos have different endings. The so-called "NEW" ending is obviously the way the film should be presented. I am very open minded, don't object to the new ending being presented, its just that for me it was so disturbing it ruined the whole movie & it took 15 years plus to find the stomach to see it again. Artistically the "New" end works, but in terms of my personal - if somewhat milk toast sensibility- I'd rather it be left off. Frankly that last minute made me hate the movie, George Segal and Ruth Gordon. So, view at your own risk.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Really Work Either Way
Review: I've just re-watched this film & was surprised to find that different videos have different endings. The so-called "NEW" ending is obviously the way the film should be presented. I am very open minded, don't object to the new ending being presented, its just that for me it was so disturbing it ruined the whole movie & it took 15 years plus to find the stomach to see it again. Artistically the "New" end works, but in terms of my personal - if somewhat milk toast sensibility- I'd rather it be left off. Frankly that last minute made me hate the movie, George Segal and Ruth Gordon. So, view at your own risk.
Rating:
Summary: Been there, done that
Review: If you've ever taken care of an elderly parent, you've got to see this movie. Each time I watch it, I feel like I'm living it. The person who wrote this movie must have taken care of an elderly parent or relative. Totally hysterical. If you don't think it's funny, it's because you have taken care of any older person.
Rating:
Summary: Not for faint-of-heart
Review: It's incredible that Carl Reiner made this film, with perhaps the darkest sense of humor in cinema history, almost thirty years ago.. and dared to go much farther than any contemporary "gross out" comedies. It might be described as the 'ultimate litmus test' for those with a twisted sense of humor... shock gags abound, about military barbarism, racism, homosexual gang rape, transvestism, and incest. And the results are astounding... not only that so much of this works, but that screenwriter Klane managed to create characters with whom we empathize, while we're laughing with disbelief at the anarchic world they inhabit. "Poppa" surely packed a wallop with audiences when it was released in 1970. Much of the humor is sidesplitting, particularly an outrageous court sequence involving a psychotic war general and a disgruntled hippie (Rob Reiner). And Ruth Gordon, as usual, is a gem. But the film is horribly dated, and filled with long, slow, humorless stretches... several scenes feel insecure, as if nothing is happening. (For instance, Reiner includes two back-to-back driving montages). The audience shouldn't be forced to spend time waiting for the next set-up; it undercuts the comic pace of the film. "Poppa" definitely isn't for all tastes, but it remains a curio. Viewers who love deliberately offensive comedic material will find themselves in hog heaven.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Adult comedy!
Review: One of Carl Reiners best! George Segal (Just shoot me) is at his best. Ruth Gordon(Any Which way but loose) steals alot of scenes though as George`s senile mother.This movie is a must see for everyone over the age of 18. I guarantee you`ll hurt yourself laughing.
Rating:
Summary: "STOW MAMA IN A HOME!"
Review: THAT side plot - the brother receiving flowers from the Policeman he assaulted [?] the previous night in Central Park!
[Granted there is more to this - add a Gorilla suit, muggers,etc.] ALSO, the Nurse's confession about her wedding night with husband #1 - what DID he DO on the bed? This CLASSIC by Carl Reiner pre-dates today's "Something About Mary" influx, but Oh Boy! Those were the real funny days! The crux of the matter? Mama - Ruth Gordon - is driving son - George Segal - nuts, he will do anything [legal] to get rid of her, including the gorilla suit bit, after all, he is a normal red-blooded young man, wanting normal things, and this does not include the agile, but senile [? Maybe not] mother. "Yuk" moments abound - Mama's odd breakfast; intentionally displaying son's posterior to total strangers, etc. A 'Golden Girl' she ain't! Shades of the later "Tatie Danielle" - a great companion piece! [and, naturally, "Throw Mama From the Train"]. BUT it's the Central Park Gorilla episode that resonates!
Rating:
Summary: A classic without peer
Review: The brothers Hocheiser make a solemn promise to their dying father that they will "never put their mother (Ruth Gordon) in a home." But brother Gordon (George Siegel) gets stuck with the old dingbat and she is wrecking his life. His law practice is falling apart, his sex life nonexistent, and he can't even hire a nurse to take care of the wacko. Then, suddenly, a nurse-- the girl of his dreams comes along, but mother has other ideas. This wonderful, creative, hilarious 1970 classic comedy directed by Carl Reiner with its gallows humor could not be made today. We have lost much of our artistic freedom to political correctness, commercial timidity and lack of creative talent. But don't take my word for it, ask Mel Brooks who has remarked that some of his movies could not be made today either. Fortunately we can get the video. The movie does require a somewhat offbeat taste to appreciate. Everything and everyone is in a kind of reality warp, the Hocheiser family, the Central Park muggers, the police, the nurse Louise (Patricia Van Devere). The movie is also comment on life in America in 1970, and on how family members manipulate each other with guilt. Finally, I like the ending the movie was released with, it really does work better artistically.
Rating:
Summary: A classic without peer
Review: The brothers Hocheiser make a solemn promise to their dying father that they will "never put their mother (Ruth Gordon) in a home." But brother Gordon (George Siegel) gets stuck with the old dingbat and she is wrecking his life. His law practice is falling apart, his sex life nonexistent, and he can't even hire a nurse to take care of the wacko. Then, suddenly, a nurse-- the girl of his dreams comes along, but mother has other ideas. This wonderful, creative, hilarious 1970 classic comedy directed by Carl Reiner with its gallows humor could not be made today. We have lost much of our artistic freedom to political correctness, commercial timidity and lack of creative talent. But don't take my word for it, ask Mel Brooks who has remarked that some of his movies could not be made today either. Fortunately we can get the video. The movie does require a somewhat offbeat taste to appreciate. Everything and everyone is in a kind of reality warp, the Hocheiser family, the Central Park muggers, the police, the nurse Louise (Patricia Van Devere). The movie is also comment on life in America in 1970, and on how family members manipulate each other with guilt. Finally, I like the ending the movie was released with, it really does work better artistically.
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