This is supposed to be a black comedy. In fact, it is an ineptly directed, unfunny, obscene mess. It features filthy language, the required men's bathroom scene, rape, racism, hatred of America, and ridicule of the mentally ill. Attention all Altzheimer's patients, Reiner thinks you're hilarious.

Watch Harold and Maude or, even better, Little Murders if you want to see black comedy. This bomb is best forgotten. I'm not selling my DVD copy, I'm throwing it away.

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.

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.

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.

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.