[1] Returned Vietnam veteran and aspiring filmmaker Jon Rubin (Robert De Niro) is hired by producer Joe Banner (Allen Garfield) to make a pornographic film.

Rubin, who has been spying on his neighbor Judy Bishop (Jennifer Salt), uses the opportunity to seduce her and secretly film the two of them having sexual intercourse using a camera mounted on his apartment window.

The white audience is then subjected to wearing shoe polish on their faces, while the African American actors sport whiteface and terrorize the people in blackface.

The actual painting of the penis was deleted to obtain the R.[3] Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote that the film "stands out for its wit, its ironic good humor, its multilevel sophistications, its technical ingenuity, its nervousness, and its very special ability to bring the sensibility of the suburbs to the sins of the inner city.

"[5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Satire is a naturally attractive form of expression for young film-makers, but few display the degree of sustained humor, energy and control that De Palma did in 'Greetings' and now even more so in the farther-ranging 'Hi, Mom!'