Patch Adams

Patch Adams is classic Robin Williams. The film is funny at times, moving at times, and a good movie to watch.

I really don't get the people who have such negative reviews, did they even watch the same movie?

This is the first time I've watched "Patch Adams" in a lot of years. Watching this film in the light of Robin Williams' suicide just a couple of years ago gives a different feel to it. In fact, knowing what would ultimately happen to Williams creates a couple of scenes that are literally gut-wrenching. The very opening of the movie when Hunter (not yet "Patch") Adams - played by Williams - checks himself into a mental hospital because he's suicidal, and a scene toward the end of the movie when - with both his professional and personal lives having seemingly fallen apart - he stands at the edge of a cliff, venting to God and obviously thinking about ... Well, it's a powerful and unsettling scene even without knowing Williams' fate; even more unsettling with that knowledge.

"Patch Adams" tugs at the heartstrings in many ways. It elicits emotions and even perhaps a few tears - both of joy and of sadness. Anyone who isn't somehow emotionally touched by this movie is lacking a little bit of soul, I'd say. I would have to say that this is one of Robin Williams' absolute finest movies. I didn't always like his material; at times I found him way too over the top to actually be funny. Perhaps the secret to his success in "Patch Adams" is that he was being over the top - but in a movie that wasn't really a comedy. It's a dramatization of the real life story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams. In fairness, one has to point out that the real Patch Adams didn't much like the movie - apparently saying that it made him out to be little more than a funny doctor. Who am I to argue with the guy whose life was being dramatized? Regardless, I thought it made him out to be much more than just a funny doctor. He came across as caring and compassionate and concerned - a doctor who wanted to break through the sometimes artificial boundaries separating patients from doctors and establish real relationships with those under his care. I understand the concept of professional boundaries. I'm in a profession that shares the concern with the need for boundaries. But I also understand that sometimes they can get in the way of actually helping people. Setting my personal opinions aside, though, I thought this movie made the point that doctors have to be more than well educated authority figures with a title. They need to be real life flesh and blood people. Maybe the portrayal by Williams emphasized Adams' "funniness" - but not in a way that was disrespectful. And I say that as one who would confess that I would be put off by a doctor who engaged in some of Adams' antics. I do want my doctor to be a little more serious than that - but still human and approachable. The movie basically traces Adams' journey through medical school on his way to becoming a doctor and his battles with the establishment who often tried to stop him, leading up to a climactic appearance before the state medical board in Virginia.

The performances in this are basically first rate. Williams was superb. Monica Potter as his love interest - fellow medical student Carin Fisher - was also a standout as a young woman with a lot of issues from her past who's adopted a tough as nails outlook on life, driven to graduate and get the title and the prestige, but who is softened and changed by her evolving relationship with Patch. Carin, unfortunately, wasn't "real." She was kind of a composite character as I understand it - a bit of the woman the real Patch did meet in medical school and marry and a bit of his best (male) friend who was actually murdered. I'm not convinced of the need to blend the characters. That was too much of an artificial tearjerker - powerful, but when you find out the real story after watching the movie and what happens to "Carin" you feel a bit lied to. At least I did. Bob Gunton was perhaps a bit too much of a caricature as the Dean of the medical school - by the book, more concerned with diseases than patients, fixated on the honour and dignity and respect of the medical profession at the expense of feeling or compassion. Gunton's performance was good - but he did come across as a caricature. But those two things (the false "Carin" story, and the caricature of Dean Walcott) are about the only things that would cause me to mark this movie down. There really wasn't a bad performance in the movie from the supporting cast.

This truly is one of Robin Williams' finest movies. No one should call themselves a fan of his without having watched it, and anyone who isn't a big fan of his (and I have mixed feelings) needs to watch this to really appreciate his depth of talent. (9/10)

In my opinion,Robin Williams is at his best when playing characters much like himself.This film is based on the life of the real Hunter "Patch" Adams,a man that Williams himself says that he closely relates to.In the medical profession,it is easy to become hard nosed and so wrapped up in treating the sickness that it is all too easy to forget that there are actual people behind the sickness.We are taught by Patch to treat the person first,because when you do so,treating the illness becomes somewhat easier.Sometimes people don't get better,but treating the soul to a laugh or two can lessen the pain and suffering.Sometimes people die,and while the people that loved them suffer and grieve,the suffering and grief are eased somewhat by the knowledge that their departed loved ones no longer suffer.This role was tailor made for Williams,and he is supported well,including another overlooked performance by the late Michael Jeter as a squirrel fearing mental patient.Thumbs up!

My husband and I loved this film. We laughed, cried and felt warm and fuzzy all over! Very well made film. Robin, as always did a great job with his part. His co-actor/actress were very good too. The movie made us a part of what was going on. I want a doctor just like Patch. To bad there aren't more doctors like that.

Robin Williams has so many films in his resume, it is very difficult to choose which one he believes is his best work. Like a true artist, he gives his talent to every role and each plays a part in his greatness. This movie for instance, I believe will become his crowning achievement. The film is called " Patch Adams. " It is based on the real doctor who offers to share a real love of medicine with anyone who chooses to become a doctor. His seeming ambivalence towards established rules and protocols and his unorthodox manner in treating patients is irritating to Dean Walcott (Bob Gunton) who tolerates Adams until he can summon enough evidence to expel the "Excessively Happy" medical student from the school. Although the role is a direct shadow of Williams's career as a comic, it is also a mirror image of his soul when he displays his sorrow and despair. It is during those touching moments we can see how much the master comic suffers for his character. When viewing this fine film, be prepared to journey with Williams through the happiness and tragedies his character experiences. An excellent example of an artist at work. Easilly recommended for all. ****