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Released by: MGM
Released on: 12/3/2002
Director: Carl Reiner
Cast: George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Trish Van Devere, Ron Leibman, Rae Allen, Vincent Gardenia, Joe Keyes, Barnard Hughes, Garrett Morris, Rob Reiner, Paul Sorvino
Year: 1970
The Movie:
The basic story behind 'Where's Poppa?' is pretty simple. Basically, Gordan Hochheiser (George Segal of Just Shoot Me Fame) is a lawyer with a relatively successful career. You'd think things would be going well for him, but the bane of his existence is that he has made a deathbed promise to his late father that he wouldn't put his mother (Ruth Gordon of Rosemary's Baby) into a home.
And herein lies the problem - his mother is almost completely senile. So he hires Louise (Trish Van Devere who played opposite Charlie 'the main man' Bronson in Messenger of Death), a lovely young nurse, to take care of her and almost instantly he falls madly in love with her.
When he starts to think that things are going to turn around for him and his woes will be taken care of, they take a drastic turn from bad to worse as Gordan's mother wreaks havoc in their relationship and Gordan becomes closer and closer to true insanity.
While the plot may sound a bit contrived, a synopsis can't really do the film justice without heading deep into spoiler country, a strange and frightening place that I do not wish to travel to. Let it just suffice to say that the movie is much funnier than it sounds and while it's tongue is placed firmly in it's cheek, there is a very strong mean streak running right down it's back. A lot of the humor here is cruel and rather sick, but that doesn't make it any less funny.
Video/Audio/Extras:
MGM's 1.85.1 transfer is, sadly, quite lame. The colors are flat and bland and there is a bit more print damage than I would have thought would be evident. I don't know what kind of shape the film elements were in, but this transfer here looks like it was ported over from a laserdisc or maybe a really good VHS tape.
The Dolby Digital Mono track fairs okay. There's nothing spectacular to report about the sound here, but there's not much to complain about either. This film is hardly a showcase for sound effects and is primarily dialogue driven, and in that respect, the track is decent. I never had a problem making out what the characters were saying, and hiss and distortion were at a minimum.
There's a hilarious but disturbing alternate ending (I'm told that this is the original theatrical ending that played when it was first released but that it was altered for video and has remained that way since) and a trailer included as well.
The Final Word:
'Where's Poppa?' is pretty funny and definitely worth your time if you appreciate black comedy, it's just too bad that MGM didn't put more love into the DVD.