Where’s Poppa? is . . . punchier and more deeply satirical [than Fire Sale], well directed by Reiner, and featuring a performance by Segal that’s wonderfully manic and desperately despairing and, yet, very human and likable.
With her inimitable line readings and face-scrunching expressions, Ms. Gordon — who was in her mid-70s when “Where’s Poppa?” was made — is one of the most ruthless clowns to ever appear before the camera. Her imperiously addled Mrs. Hocheiser is one of the period’s great comic creations, as well as one of the most disturbing.