Rating: 
Summary: I waited 30 years to see this movie
Review: : I waited 30 years to see this film...I was 19 in 1970 when it came out and having heard how funny it was when it came out and reading the reviews here, I finally rented it and watched it. I didn't laugh once - a very unfunny flick - and I usually love Reiner. I cannot for the life of me figure why this is seen as funny. I had not one chuckle. And I love comedies! Oh well, at least now I know what all the shouting was about. Not my idea of a comedy. I enjoy black comedy that is funny - Rocky Horror, Ruthless People, Mr. Wrong, Titus, the Simpsons come to mind, but honestly I really don't get the appeal of this movie. It bored me completely.
Rating: 
Summary: great comedy ruth gordon rules!
Review: A must see. One of many in Nipsey's collection of videos. The central park runs will have you crying on the floor. Take time out of your life to see this flick! So sez Nipsey!
Rating:
Summary: George Segal Kills in The Most Underrated Movie Ever
Review: Anyone who doubts George Segal's place in the first rank of American actors over more than a generation needs to see Where's Papa. As a totally hapless, deadpan character he is far funnier in this hour and a half than lots of celebrated comics (Robin Williams, Chevy Chase)have been throughout their whole career. The courtroom scenes are the wildest ever of their type, as are the ones where Ron Leibman runs through Central Park trying to elude the gang of muggers. They can be likened to a Three Stooges comedy with profanity replacing the slapstick. This humor is more than black and certainly not for the sensitive (or the elderly), but almost 30 years after I first saw it, Robert Klane's script and Segal's performance still leave me incapacitated with laughter.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Black Comedy well acted and delivered.
Review: For those who understand and appreciate the situational humour of Black Comedy this early George Segal is a must. And for him to be teamed with the utterly missed and irreplaceable Ruth Gordon, is icing on the fruit cake. Trish Van DeVere is perfect as a virginal wanna be Florence Nightingale and New York provides the ideal electric back drop for this charming, out of the box comedy. Daring for the times (70's) it has become cult and classic and we'd drive miles to catch it at an art house back in the days before the multi-plex. I've seen it at least 12 times. Many of the lines have provided me with tidbit entertainment on the cocktail circuit. Buckle up and enjoy. If you don't like it, please send it to me.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Black Comedy well acted and delivered.
Review: For those who understand and appreciate the situational humour of Black Comedy this early George Segal is a must. And for him to be teamed with the utterly missed and irreplaceable Ruth Gordon, is icing on the fruit cake. Trish Van DeVere is perfect as a virginal wanna be Florence Nightingale and New York provides the ideal electric back drop for this charming, out of the box comedy. Daring for the times (70's) it has become cult and classic and we'd drive miles to catch it at an art house back in the days before the multi-plex. I've seen it at least 12 times. Many of the lines have provided me with tidbit entertainment on the cocktail circuit. Buckle up and enjoy. If you don't like it, please send it to me.
Rating:
Summary: Controversial Even Then
Review: From the moment George Segal dons a gorilla suit and leaps on mom's bed, growling and beating a shaggy chest, whereupon mom (Ruth Gordon) delivers a paralyzing fist to his groin, the audience knows this is not a typical family relationship. In fact, the rest of the film elaborates hilariously on the mounting desperation middle-aged bachelor and attorney Segal faces as he tries to outwit the aged and addled Gordon, who turns his every stab at independence into humiliating defeat. Poor Gordon Hocheiser, he's facing a bleak future, unless something is finally done about mom. This is a signature movie of the 60's, a companion piece to that other iconoclast comedy of the period, Harold and Maude. Only here, the counter-cultural message is less noticeable, limited pretty much to mock face-offs with a deranged army general and a marauding football coach. The screenplay is richly inventive, trading on the unexpected in often highly provocative ways. The film however belongs to Segal whose comedy instinct proves flawless, his hang-dog deadpan growing ever longer as the gallows grow ever closer. We want him to win, get control of life, and escape mom's clinging grasp. But can he.The film is not so much an attack on aged parents as a healthy plea for adult independence--old lady Hocheiser has few redeeming qualities while Gordon's irrepressible girlishness, unlike her role in Harold and Maude, resembles that of a demented kewpie doll. Admittedly, the movie is not for everyone, many scenes being as outrageous as they are funny. Yet the social commentary remains lively and incisive, and despite fashions of the day, retains a distinct relevancy. (Consider the old age home operated as a zombified warehouse by Paul Sorvino looking and acting like a mafia capo.) (My copy, incidentally, contains a humorously satisfying conclusion of a car exiting in long shot.) So, if you're curious about what even the permissive and freewheeling 60's found controversial, then take a chance on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Controversial Even Then
Review: From the moment George Segal dons a gorilla suit and leaps on mom's bed, growling and beating a shaggy chest, whereupon mom (Ruth Gordon) delivers a paralyzing fist to his groin, the audience knows this is not a typical family relationship. In fact, the rest of the film elaborates hilariously on the mounting desperation middle-aged bachelor and attorney Segal faces as he tries to outwit the aged and addled Gordon, who turns his every stab at independence into humiliating defeat. Poor Gordon Hocheiser, he's facing a bleak future, unless something is finally done about mom. This is a signature movie of the 60's, a companion piece to that other iconoclast comedy of the period, Harold and Maude. Only here, the counter-cultural message is less noticeable, limited pretty much to mock face-offs with a deranged army general and a marauding football coach. The screenplay is richly inventive, trading on the unexpected in often highly provocative ways. The film however belongs to Segal whose comedy instinct proves flawless, his hang-dog deadpan growing ever longer as the gallows grow ever closer. We want him to win, get control of life, and escape mom's clinging grasp. But can he.The film is not so much an attack on aged parents as a healthy plea for adult independence--old lady Hocheiser has few redeeming qualities while Gordon's irrepressible girlishness, unlike her role in Harold and Maude, resembles that of a demented kewpie doll. Admittedly, the movie is not for everyone, many scenes being as outrageous as they are funny. Yet the social commentary remains lively and incisive, and despite fashions of the day, retains a distinct relevancy. (Consider the old age home operated as a zombified warehouse by Paul Sorvino looking and acting like a mafia capo.) (My copy, incidentally, contains a humorously satisfying conclusion of a car exiting in long shot.) So, if you're curious about what even the permissive and freewheeling 60's found controversial, then take a chance on this one.
Rating:
Summary: A VERY BLACK COMEDY....
Review: George Segal is wonderful as Gordon the attorney stuck with his aging addled Mama. Ron Liebman is appropriately befuddled as the nerdish brother Sidney and Trish Van Devere (in her film debut) is strangely idyllic as Gordons' new girlfriend. But it's Ruth Gordon who's watchable here. She is fearless in her hilarious (and, yes, touching) portrayal of Mama. You never know if it's all an act to keep her son Gordon hamstringed or if she's really senile or ,by todays' standards, in the onset of Alzheimers'. She's such a skilled performer. Whatever the truth is, she's delightful to watch. This is a "bare bones" disc: no real extras except the trailer and the bizarre alternate ending ("Papa's here") which I won't describe. The film looks great and it is very tasteless in spots but nonetheless enjoyable if you're game. A must if you're a Segal or Gordon fan and a rare treasure of way-y-y-y off-beat black comedy.
Rating:
Summary: Just Funny
Review: Hey, This is a classic comedy...We know this. But...does anyoneknow what the deal is with the extended ending on this copy. Theversions i have seen always end at the huh huh home with Poppa?? .... Mama!! But i just watched it last night and it had a whole scene after that! Whats the deal??
Rating: 
Summary: Explanation
Review: I agree with everyone this is a very funny black comedy. Now, about that "new" ending on MGM/UA Video (the theatrical ending is available on the old Key Video release, and TV prints.) That "new" ending was originally the way it was supposed to end in the theater, but it was eliminated, because the director felt audiences would want a happy ending.
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