in the opening sequence of where poppa . and george segal rise from his bed one morning and shave and shower and put on a gorilla suit and go into his mother bedroom and we realize later and to give her a massive heart attack that will kill her and get her out of his life forever . this be about the level of humor one can expect from most of this picture represent insanity and blend with what might be take a morbid daring . segal play a new york attorney who live with his supposedly senile mother ( ruth gordon ) and whose life be far complicate when and while hire a nurse to care for the old bag and meet the girl of his dream and the pleasantly prim trish van devere and deck out like florence nightingale . his dilemma represent how to integrate the lovely nurse into his and his pesky mother life . segal performance be about the only thing hold the picture together . his frustration and his reaction and his comic timing be almost peerless ( whatever happen to that guy . ) while where the film fail be in other area . ruth gordon characterization be dreadful a the mother . at the beginning and you can not figure out if her character be senile or just be deliberately vague to keep her son from move out . by the end and it clear she just nut . when segal brings van devere home to meet her and gordon eyebrow furrow and she get a mean and sinister look . she want the intruder in her son life remove while she calculate . this be not the mode of a senile person . youre not get a consistent performance throughout the picture and which be probably the director ( carl reiner ) fault as much a gordon . ruth gordon old lady in rosemary baby be much more successful because with the kind of ingratiating and cloy person that ruth gordon generally play and the audience respond to her a annoying . but when mia farrow be too timid to fight back and gordon becomes more cloying and her fang dig deeper and deeper and be frighten for farrow while this kind of imposition be genuinely terrify . here and be be ask to laugh at what we would normally find annoying and and if gordon play it a helplessly nutty all the way and we might . but she selfish and mean a well and and it dampen what little humor there be . there be a few good laugh and though . a courtroom scene with barnard hughes a a military officer and rob reiner a a counterculture punk be fairly hilarious and and vincent gardenia do a nice turn a a lombardiesque football coach . there also an inspired bit where segal brother ( ron liebman ) and have be strip naked by mugger on his way to segal place and ask him for something for to wear home and he give him the gorilla suit . but of a lot of the script be poorly conceive and simply doesn not make sense . why be a new york lawyer with his own practice even live at home in the first place . why do segal and if his mother be senile and try to reason with her logically represent if you spoil this for me and i will punch your f ing heart out . why do liebman keep cut through the park if he know he go to get mug . why do he take a taxi after leave segal with gorilla suit . why wasn not he take taxis all along . a funny bit would have be liebman and a the gorilla and terrorize the mugger . why do van devere keep come back after her first husband be a kook and why do she want to get involve with this bunch . i suppose if i put this to carl reiner and he would say and these be crazy people and they do not have to make sense . which be a convenient way to excuse a lousy script that full of hole . the character moment to moment behavior may not have to make sense and but their motivation do and and that where where poppa . fall apart while the situation be create just to have the gag and and the gag be mostly one shot and they do not build to anything . carl reiner be the most guilty in this whole fiasco . how he have acquire this vaunted reputation a a pillar of comedy puzzle me while basically and his career have be to hold a microphone in front of sid caesar and mel brook while they talk in funny voice . his son rob have ten time the skill and intelligence a a director . in show biz term and reiner push button while a monkey could do his job . and that be most apparent in his framing of the action . why be all of new york shot in tight and in close ups and but the scene in the country be all distant and panoramic . that the mentality of carl reiner direction and claustrophobic for the city and spatial for the country . in the final lunatic scene at the old folk home and the camera be so far off and you can not even make out what go on . the abrupt end suggest a resolution that segal could have easily arrive at ninety minute ago while it also suggest reiner couldn not figure out how to end the picture . so he just cut it and a another example of craziness . reiner seem to think dumbness equal craziness and and craziness without logic be always funny . it isn not and and the creator of where poppa be as demented a ruth gordon put pepsi in her fruit loop .