Where’s Poppa?

Set in New York City, the action moves between Gordon's Upper West Side apartment, the bustle of Central Park, and social circles on the Upper East Side. The city provides a lively backdrop for farcical confrontations, urban routines, and the clash between family duty and personal freedom. The urban landscape and apartment interiors drive the film's brisk, physical humor.

🎭 Family Strife

Central to the film is the fraught relationship between Gordon and his mother. His resentment and attempt to eject her clash with a deep-seated sense of obligation, creating a cycle of manipulation, humiliation, and humor. The mother’s provocative behavior forces Gordon to confront what family duty means when it intersects with personal happiness. The dynamic satirizes how caregiving roles can invert power within a household.

🏙️ Urban Satire

The film uses New York City as a playground for farce, exploiting urban routines and social expectations. The chase through apartments, parks, and courtroom drama exposes the absurdities of modern life and the pressures of adult responsibility. It treats the city as a character that amplifies the madness of a man trying to manage a problematic mother and a complicated romance.

🔓 Freedom

Ultimately Gordon seeks release from the weight of his mother's control, driving them toward a sequence of comically unsuitable rest homes. The ending unfolds as a liberation achieved through a ruse—presenting a random stranger as Poppa and driving away with Louise. The film toys with the idea of choosing one's own life path against familial obligation, delivering a bittersweet punchline.