Product Description

Meet Patch Adams (Academy Award-winner Robin Williams), a doctor who doesn't look, act or think like any doctor you've met before. For Patch, humor is the best medicine, and he's willing to do just about anything to make his patients laugh - even if it means risking his own career. Based on a true story, Patch Adams combines sidesplitting humor with an inspiring story that transcends the traditional comedy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3748 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-06-11
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com
Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: There are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics.

Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch," but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humor and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease," he declares throughout the film). Robin Williams, in the title role, is as charming as ever, although someone should tell him to broaden his range--the ever-cheerful do-gooder à la Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society is getting a little old. His sidekick Truman (Daniel London) steals the show with his gawky allure and eyebrows that threaten to overtake his lean face--he seems more real, which is odd considering that Patch Adams does exist and this film is based on his life. Monica Potter is the coolly reluctant love interest, and she makes the most of her one-dimensional part. While moments of true heartfelt emotion do come through, the major flaw of this film is that the good guys are just so gosh-darn good and the bad ones are just big meanies with no character development. Patch Adams, though, does provide the tears, the giggles, and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end. --Jenny Brown

From The New Yorker
Embarrassing rubbish about a medical student (Robin Williams) who rebels against med-school routines and cuts a hole in red enema bulbs and places them on his nose in order to cheer up patients, including young children with cancer. The clowning is alleged to make a serious difference in the patients' health. Written by Steve Oedekerk and directed by Tom Shadyac (both onetime Jim Carrey collaborators), this shameless piece of sentimentality is indignantly on the side of feelings and spontaneity and against coldhearted technique, as if those were the only two choices in training doctors. Based on a memoir by Hunter Doherty Adams, a genuine doctor who, an end title informs us, runs an organization in West Virginia, devoted to free treatment and loving care, called the Gesundheit Institute. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

GOOD, but wishful thinking.
This was a good movie. I liked it a lot.
It deals with going against the rituals of programed
living.

Great movie!
I have a hard time sitting still long enough to watch a movie, but this one kept me sitting. The comedy is hilarious! There are also some serious and sad parts, but they add to the greatness of the movie. My favorite part was the children in the hospital and learning that they were actually "Make a Wish Foundation" cancer patients! Highly recommend this movie!

GREAT STORY, FLAWED BY FLAT CHARACTERS!
What's not to like about this film, Robin Williams plays yet another caring doctor who wants only to help people. It's all strangely familiar.....if you've seen 'Awakenings', a much better film if you ask me. I did enjoy this predictable film, but the character's have no depth. We have the kooky crazy people, the mean head physical and so on and so on. This would not be a problem if this was a comedy, but with the subject matter at hand, it really is a drama. It's based on a true story, about a man who thinks outside the box. I love people who think outside the box, if only the director had.........it could have been an exceptional film, as it is, it's a decent feel good film with a rather uneven tone. The DVD has a very good transfer.