10 Best Carl Reiner Films

Reiner was never one for black comedy, but he did try his hand at it during the cynical seventies. Where's Poppa? is a somewhat successful bleak look at the relationship between a lawyer (George Segal) and his senile mother (Ruth Gordon).

It's as relentlessly mean and unpleasant as any other film of its kind, having the most in common with Alan Arkin's Little Murders. What makes these two particularly interesting is that, despite their nature, there's a propensity and energy to the proceedings that make them feel lighter than they are. The subject matter is cruel and there's really no happy ending for anyone involved.

This is the angriest you'll ever see Reiner, and he unloads on some fairly easy but appropriate targets like the military, New York crime rates and elder abuse. It's entirely uncharacteristic, but it's worth knowing what it's like to catch the nicest man in Hollywood on a bad day.