Patch Adams . Tucson Weekly . 01-25-99

Patch Adams

DIRECTED BY: Tom Shadyac

REVIEWED: 01-25-99

A heartily insulting moving that, strangely, also occasionally works. Robin Williams stars in the allegedly true story of Hunter "Patch" Adams, an early '70s medical student whose experiments in humor therapy almost got him kicked out of school. Tom "Ace Ventura" Shadyac's direction is baldly manipulative and simplistic, and the music couldn't be more syrupy and trivializing. Yet for every embarrassing moment in the movie, there are a few saving graces. When Williams sneaks into a hospital ward to do zany clown antics for cute chemo-kids, it's creepy--who the hell does he think he is? But the movie rarely plays down the negative reactions of his peers and mentors; with the exception of one straw man (the humorless dean), it acknowledges that their suspicions are valid. This effectively mitigates the New Agey message, as does the fact (assuming the screenplay isn't lying) that when not compassionately horsing around, Adams consistently got high A's in his classes. Patch Adams is flaky, but it's a flakiness that doesn't crumble, and it's further aided by some swift dialogue at key moments (which Williams delivers well) and solid supporting performances. Especially good is Philip Seymour Hoffman--remember him as the fat guy with a crush on Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights? Here he's a hoity-toity, upper-crust med student, and his performance is spot-on. Those with a strong gag reflex rightfully won't like Patch Adams, but they may need a smaller sick bag than expected.

--Woodruff

Full Length Reviews
Patch Adams

Capsule Reviews
Patch Adams
Patch Adams

Other Films by Tom Shadyac
Liar Liar

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