'Hi, Mom!' is supposedly a sequel to Brian De Palma's earlier 'Greetings', but the connections are a bit tenuous, even though Robert De Niro once again plays Jon Rubin. Is he the same character? I suppose so, but it's hard to say. Alan Garfield and Gerrit Graham also reappear. Garfield could well be the same guy, he's involved in pornography after all, but Graham is most definitely playing a different person. It's just one of many fascinating things about this unique movie, which is both funnier and darker than 'Greetings'. Rubin is a Vietnam vet who fancies himself a movie director, or maybe this is just an excuse to spy on the occupants of the building opposite. They include Graham, a radical involved in guerrilla theatre and the black power movement (there's a priceless moment where he paints himself black), and the sexy Judy (Jennifer Salt who subsequently co-starred in De Palma's breakthrough thriller 'Sisters'), who he decides to seduce (another classic scene). De Niro is on top form throughout, I really enjoyed his performance. Charles Durning has a hilarious bit at the beginning as the building Super, and cult fave Paul Bartel ('Eating Raoul') can be spotted if you keep your eyes open. The highlight of the movie is the brilliant 'Be Black Baby' sequence, which has to be seen to be believed. De Palma is a talented and versatile director who rarely gets the credit he deserves. Those who simplistically dismiss him as nothing but a Hitchcock rip-off would do well to watch 'Greetings' and 'Hi, Mom!' two of the most original and innovative American movies of the late 60s/early 70s. And Robert De Niro fans just have to see his work in these two movies, and I also recommend they check him out in Roger Corman's 'Bloody Mama' with Shelley Winters and Bruce Dern, and his small role in 'Born To Win' opposite George Segal. These all show that he really had something special going on before he teamed up with Scorsese.