He provokes the patients to laugh at his antics and they start forgetting about their pain. Upon his release from the institution (he simply decides to leave), Patch enrolls in the Medical College of Virginia, where he excels academically and begins to practice an unorthodox form of healing - laughter. Institutionalized for depression, he discovers he has a talent for healing (by practicing reverse psychology on some of his fellow patients), and he gains his nickname, "Patch."
In fact, the idea behind this fact-based film (inspired by physician Hunter "Patch" Adams' tongue-in-cheek biography, "Gesundheit: Good Health is a Laughing Matter") recalls "Good Morning, Vietnam," which set Williams in the middle of a dramatic battlefield, where he knocked down his opponents with humor.Īnd though both Williams and the film stray into some questionable areas of humor, he succeeds quite nicely at pulling it off.Īdams is played as a brilliant but troubled young man who finds his true calling by accident. In fact, this predictable, heavy-handed comedy-drama is lucky it works at all, given that it comes from the "Ace Ventura" and "The Nutty Professor" filmmaking team (director Tom Shadyac and screenwriter Steve Oedekerk).īut it does have Williams, who finally unleashes his formidable comedic talents after some relatively restrained roles lately (especially the ironically titled "What Dreams May Come"). To say that the fact-based comedy-drama "Patch Adams" wouldn't work without Robin Williams might be the understatement of the year.
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