BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

sddavis63 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)

psamy2012 This film makes me cry every single time I watch it. This really captures your heart with emotionally elements used in it. Patch Adams displays many emotions within the film. I would say to anyone who has never watched it please do give it a try as it might surprise you. This is Robin Williams at one of his best.

jimbo-53-186511 Hunter 'Patch' Adams (Robin Williams) enrols in a medical university and dreams of becoming a doctor. His unorthodox methods towards doctoring (involving providing laughter and pathos towards his patients) doesn't sit well with all concerned and Patch finds himself having to fight against the system when he is dismissed from medical school.It's very easy to see what approach Tom Shadyac has used in this film and that approach seems to be 'OK Robin here's the script, be as outlandish and crazy as you possibly can and that will be enough to carry the film.' To be fair it's probably safe to assume that Shadyac had the same conversation with Jim Carrey when he directed Ace Ventura Pet Detective. These points aren't meant entirely as a criticism and Shadyac clearly knows what he's doing and basically in both films he's cast a larger than life actor to bring his films to life...I think that the difference between the two films is that a film like Ace Ventura doesn't seem to suffer as much because it's so out there and ridiculous that a script doesn't really seem to matter, but with Patch Adams a script is more important (given the subject matter and the fact that it's based on a true story). I personally feel that this film could have used a more gentle and subtly humorous approach - Williams outlandish and OTT performance doesn't mesh well with the serious subject matter and I can't help but feel that Tom Shadyac may not have been the right director for this project. I also felt that the score was overused, intrusive and fairly manipulative.The script is also incredibly thin and seems to leave gaps all over the place; such as Adams admitting himself to a psychiatric ward, dismissing himself and then 2 years later we find him enrolled at a medical university.. Huh?? So he discharges himself without consequences? What happened after he discharged himself? Did no-one do a background check before enrolling him? It's also shown that Patch is at the top of his class in terms of grades even though he spends no time revising yet we're never given any understanding of how he achieves these impressive scores. Yes he's good with people, but this doesn't explain how he learns all of the theoretical side of doctoring without opening a textbook!!! I also found the script insultingly simplistic in other areas particularly in respect of its treatment of doctors; it seems to paint the picture that all doctors (except Patch) have no pathos and that they are unable to treat patients properly because they can't make them laugh or that they don't understand them. Now don't get me wrong I do agree that there should be some kind of human element with doctoring, but by suggesting that none of these doctors have any people skills or pathos just seems to be a bit of an insult to the intelligence.This is worth watching for Williams performance as he does put on a good show and is very entertaining. However, this forms part of the problem here in that like the patients that Patch encountered I felt entertained and enjoyed the show that was put on, but went away feeling as though I hadn't learned an awful lot.

nsb-48130 Patch Adams I really liked the movie, it's showing how important it is to do what you believe in. The importance of believing in your self. Sometimes you need to do what others don't believe in, to proof them wrong. And that's what this movie is all about. Do what is right for you as long as it does something good for others to. But it is also showing that the right thing, is not always the happy safe thing to do, because the main character falls in love with a woman from the school, and just when things gets really good between these two, something bad happens to her. It makes him leave the place he built up, because for a moment he can't see how this place can be right and good anymore. I love how the movie shows the effect of a hospital clown, how much happiness it brings to both children and adults! What it takes to help people, that it's more than just the right medication and getting healthy without fever. It's also the mental part, connecting with these people by talking to them, listening to them and show them you really care about them, and not just the physical problems. What this man did for our health care system is magnificent! He changed the way we saw the sick people, and how we need to help them, how happiness can heal a sick person, and make them motivated for changing their lifes. I just really think it's a good movie, you will get a good idea of what has happened in our health care systems, and how the nurses and doctors looked at patience before, and what's changed and how it's changed now. The main character is Robin Williams, and he plays the character so well.