Patch Adams (1998) Life is Beautiful with Robin Williams (vol.7)
“Our job is improving the quality of life, not just delaying death”
“Hunter ‘Patch’ Adams (Robin Williams) Apparently confession is good for the soul and I may as well start as I mean to continue by confessing that although I’ve seen the vast, vast majority of films from the much missed otherworldly genius that was Robin Williams, until recently, I’d never watched Patch Adams. As I hope I’m demonstrating in this seemingly never ending retrospective series on the great man’s cinematic work, I rather miss the sweet old soul who gave me a reason to smile as a kid with the anarchy of his alien character in Mork and Mindy on television, his fuck you, no holds barred stand up comedy routines, and who regularly broke my heart on the big screen with performances in Dead Poet’s Society, Good Will Hunting and What Dreams May Come (coming soon here) as well as Jakob the Liar, World’s Greatest Dad and The Night Listener already previously covered here in my bout of self-indulgent reverie for the alien genius I’ll remain forever convinced was not of our world.
Earth calling Robin
Come in, Robin
Breaking with my own traditions, I barely made a single note worthy of inclusion in this particular edition of my retrospective series as I was rather enjoying my first taste of this film and so, let’s free style it for a change and see what we end up with. Whilst deviating significantly from the real life story of Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams, the film covers roughly five years of his life and bridges the end of the 1960’s with the beginning of the 1970’s and Robin in the titular role first admitting himself into a psychiatric hospital with suicidal thoughts to graduating medical school and opening the Gesundheit Institute, ostensibly a free hospital with a focus on merging the physical practice of medicine and recovery with a more human approach of fun and the human spirit of embracing life rather than awaiting the approach of death.
So that’s Patch Adams.
OK? Goodbye!
Oh, you’re still here! Great! Well in between, and despite the critical panning and sniffy reviews is another wonderfully eccentric performance from Robin as after defeating a vicious gang of invisible squirrels with an equally invisible array of machine guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers (so his roommate “Rudy” (Michael Jeter) can safely visit the toilet in the psychiatric hospital) he realises that helping people helps him battle his own demons and enrolls two years later as the oldest first year medical student in a Virginia Medical College. A non-conformist, contrarian and anti-establishment figure, Hunter (determined to be called “Patch” in deference to “Arthur Mendelson” (Harold Gould), a fellow patient in the psychiatric hospital of his past) continually bypasses the conventional wisdom of students waiting until their third year of study before they interact with any patients by sneaking his way onto a cancer ward of sick children, bringing lighthearted humour and japes to their otherwise miserable existence and even coaxing the feared man in Room 305 out of his stupor and out of his hospital room too as a wisecracking Angel of Death before singing him to his eventual forever sleep. All this and more, including a hilarious welcome to a party of visiting gynecologists and a banner proclaiming to be “At Your Cervix” is all to the chagrin of the College Dean, with actor Bob Gunton as “Dean Walcott” eerily reprising his officious, dead behind the eyes role he portrayed four years earlier as the Prison Governor in The Shawshank Redemption. Accused of “Excessive Happiness” (yes, excessive happiness!) the regular standoffs between Patch and Walcott drive the central narrative of the film and the old and the new way of medical practice and thinking, by the book and beyond the book, the medical diagnosis and a more human, empathetic approach of actually dedicating time to the patient, getting to know their name, what makes them tick and their life and family outside of the very reason why they now find themselves, often alone, in a hospital.
Combine these central narratives and performances with Patch’s love for adventure and making people laugh and smile, his love for fellow student “Carin Fisher” (Monica Potter) and the first of a trio of stellar supporting performances that also includes a true stand out portrayal from Daniel London as “Truman Schiff” and an early career performance from the equally much missed Philip Seymour Hoffman as the studious and straight laced “Mitch Roman”, the straight man to Patch’s comedy clown, and you have a wonderful film and yet another beautiful performance of unbridled humanity from Robin McLaurin Williams.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my trilogy of recently self-published books. Beautiful covers eh! As the title(s) would suggest, this is my life at the movies or at least from 1980 to 2024, and in volume 1 you’ll find 80 spoiler free appraisals of movies from debut filmmakers, 91 of the very best films appraised with love and absent of spoilers from 1990–2024 in volume 2, and in volume 3 you’ll find career “specials” on Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino together with the very best of the rest and another 87 spoiler free film reviews from 2001–2024.
All available in hardback and paperback and here are some handy links:
"A Life at the Movies Vol.1" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.2" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.3" - link to Amazon