... The film is about a man called Patch Adams who is struggling to find his place in life. After suffering many bouts of depression he tries to commit suicide and is sent to a mental hospital. His stay in the mental hospital however turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. But ... Read review
Meet Patch Adams (Award-Winner Robin Williams), a doctor who doesn't look, act or think ... more
like any doctor you've meet before. For Patch, humour is the best medicine, and he's willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh - even if it means riski...
Meet Patch Adams (Robin Williams) a doctor who doesn't look act or think like any doctor ... more
you've met before. For Patch humour is the best medicine and he's willing to do just about anything to make his patients laugh even if it means risking his o...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Meet Patch Adams (Robin Williams), a doctor who doesn't look,act or think like any doctor ... more
you've met before. For Patch, humouris the best medicine, and he's willing to do just about anything tomake his patients laugh, even if it means risking his own career.Based on a true story Patch Adamscombines side-splittinghumour with an inspiring story that transcends the traditionalcomedy. Special Features: Making Of Documentary "The Medicinal Value Of Laughter" Audio Commentary Scene Outtakes Production Notes Cast and Filmmaker's Notes Theatrical Trailer
This manual suggests that health can be maintained if aided by joy, laughter and kindness, ... more
claiming that the most helpful treatment is hope, love, relaxation and the simple joy of living. It offers positive ways of enhancing life for the healthy, and guidance for the medical community.
Production Year: 2004 - Comedy - Director: John Hay - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jimi Mistry, Kate Miles, Dougray Scott
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Carol Cleveland, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Advantages: There are alot of lessons in life to be learn't from watching this film Disadvantages: That back in the 60's and early 70's Patch wasn't taken seriously
...is about a man called Patch Adams who is struggling to find his place in life. After suffering many bouts of depression he tries to commit suicide and is sent to a mental hospital. His stay in the mental hospital however turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. But it wasn't the doctors that helped him to feel better. It was the patients that helped him. By him helping them he found that he could forget about his own problems. This ... ...friends, but enemies. You see Patch also wanted to be a clown and so he knows how to make people laugh. Patch believes that laughter is a form of medicine, and realises that he can be a clown and a doctor at the same time.
Patch isn't supposed to have any contact with his patients until Year 3 - but breaks those rules and sneaks into the hospital as he believes he can learn more about medicine though patient contact and learning more ... more
Isn't it an amazing feeling to come away from a film where you feel so inspired, and it leaves you thinking about things for a long while afterwards. A film that can even change you as a person for the better, just through learning more about the little things that most people take for granted. Well that's what this film did for me and I am sure it would have a similar effect on others that watch this film as well.
ABOUT THE FILM This film was made in 1999, but the film is based around life in the late 60's, early 70's. The film is about a man called Patch Adams who is struggling to find his place in life. After suffering many bouts of depression he tries to commit suicide and is sent to a mental hospital. His stay in the mental hospital however turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. But it wasn't the doctors that helped him to feel better. It was the patients that helped him. By him helping them he found that he could forget about his own problems. This is when he decides that what he wants to do with his life is become a doctor.
So 2yrs later he starts medical school to do just that. However he quickly finds himself making not just friends, but enemies. You see Patch also wanted to be a clown and so he knows how to make people laugh. Patch believes that laughter is a form of medicine, and realises that he can be a clown and a doctor at the same time.
Patch isn't supposed to have any contact with his patients until Year 3 - but breaks those rules and sneaks into the hospital as he believes he can learn more about medicine though patient contact and learning more about the people he would be treating. He tries to find out from each of the patients what there dreams are, or what makes them happy and what they love and then he goes about fulfilling there dreams or wishes. In doing this it increases there endorphin levels and their desire to recover. So he would perhaps dress up as a clown, or fill a room with balloons just to get a smile or simple moment of pleasure from the patient.
Patch's friends and everyone around him think he acts the way he does as a doctor to cope with his own insecurities, and so don't take him seriously. They think a doctor should just treat the disease, but Patch thinks that a doctor should treat the patient as well as the disease. One of the many small things that Patch did was this: When the doctors were doing there rounds they went up to a lady that looked very scared and confused as all the doctors stood round her stating there medical opinions on her diabetes. Patch stopped them half way and said to the lady, 'Can I ask what your name is?'. When she told him her name was Margery, Patch then said to her, 'Hello Margery', and her face lit up with a smile and she felt good that someone had taken an interest in her and made her feel a little more relaxed. But it just showed how important such little things can be, and there were many more incidents like that. But the doctors thought that to start talking to the patients and getting to know them was in a sense bringing down there level as a doctor to the level of the patient. So Patch's good intentions were disregarded.
So Patch had everything against him in the way he believed a doctor should be, and yet he still stay's true to what he believed in even if it meant risking his future in becoming a doctor. It may sound like I have already told you a lot about this film, but there is a lot more to follow which I won't spoil for you. All I will say is that there are some very dramatic events that follow both with his friends and colleagues and some events you would just never predict happening. This is not one of those silly comedies by any means. This is a very inspiring film that will make you laugh and cry and is very thought provoking.
MAIN ACTORS AND A BIT ABOUT THE CHARACTERS THEY PLAY Robin Williams (Patch Adams) Patch Adams is very inspiring and he has his own mind and ways of doing things. He is very intelligent and is determined to be a great doctor. He is incredibly funny, but also has a very down to earth, sensitive and caring side to his personality which really shines through. He lives life without limits and breaks rules if he has to just to get his values and beliefs across.
Daniel London (Truman Schiff) Truman is one of Patch's friends at Medical School. He is very interested in how people's lives change from when they are a child and they start off so spontaneous and open, and then over time they are drawn into conformity. Patch challenges Truman's ideas and interests and Truman becomes inspired by his findings.
Monica Potter (Carin Fisher) Carin is one of Patch's friends at Medical School. She is a very interesting character with a lot of mystery about her. She has a dark side to her life and buries herself in her studies to cope with her past and shows a cold side towards Patch when he grows very fond of her. She has a very caring side, but her vulnerability hides her true self.
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mitch Roman) Mitch is Patch's room mate. He is very serious in both his studying and personality. He spends every spare minute studying, striving to be number one in everything he does and is determined to be the best doctor there is. He sees Patch as a joke and someone who shouldn't be in medical school.
Bob Gunton (Dean Walcott) Dean Walcott is Head of the Medical School and follows many years of research on how to be a good doctor and believes that the research and the ways he teaches should be respected. So when Patch has his own methods of being a doctor and breaks these firm rules set by the medical school, Dean Walcott instantly sees Patch as a threat and wants him out of medical school.
DIRECTOR The Director of this film is Tom Shadyac. He has been the director of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor and Liar Liar. He wanted to be the director for Patch Adams because he wanted to do a comedy that had a reality-based tone to it and a dramatic storyline.
DID YOU KNOW? During the filming of Patch Adams the cast and crew worked closely with the 'Make a Wish Foundation' to fulfil the dreams of several children who were at the time going through cancer treatment. These children appeared with Robin Williams in the scenes at the paediatric ward. So it is nice to think that this film has helped these children in some way.
THE REAL PATCH ADAMS This film is based on a true story. For me, this made the film much more appealing to watch. The real Patch Adams journey in life went from suicidal despair in his youth to the decision to devote his life to the study of how to heal others through joy and laughter. Today we know about endorphins and the importance of the mind in the healing process. But back in the 60's and 70's when Patch was forming his philosophy, that knowledge didn't exist. So his concepts were really radical back then.
HOW THE FILM MADE ME FEEL This is a film that from the moment it started I was hooked. I found it to be a film that I could learn a lot of lessons in life from. Some of those lessons weren't clear at first when I watched the film, but by going away and thinking about things they became a lot clearer. The advantage with this sort of film is that I found I could watch it again and again and each time still get something out of watching it, something that perhaps I had missed the first time round. But for each time I watched the film it just seemed to get better.
1. The film made me realise how important it is to have my own mind about things, and to not just follow the safe route of following others opinions. 2. It taught me how important a smile or saying hello to a stranger in the street can be. To cheer someone up if only for a few seconds with a simple smile can not only make that person happier, but it is also very satisfying to do that for someone else. 3. It taught me that if I have a problem, then I should look beyond the problem to find the solution and not focus on the problem. That's something that probably sounds confusing, but if you watch the film you will understand it better and that is a very valuable lesson to learn.
I got so much more out of this film as well, but I want to leave you to find out for yourself other lessons you can gain from watching this incredible film. This is a film that would certainly be in my Top 10 Films I have ever watched.
THIS DVD ALSO CONTAINS Making of Featurette Interviews Production Notes Filmography Theatrical Trailer Out Takes
PRICES On Amazon you can buy this new for £9.99 plus P&P. Or you can purchase it second hand off Amazon from just £3.85 plus P&P. On E-Bay I have seen this DVD sell for as little as £1.50 plus P&P. At HMV you can buy the DVD for £9.99.
Advantages: Robin Williams doing what he does best Disadvantages: Maybe a little to sugar coated in places
...opening section where we see Patch enter the mental institution it manages to provide some brilliant jokes, such as when Patch is being interviewed by a psychiatrist and realising that he is not being listened to just starts taking the mickey out of the nonsense questions. It is also brilliant to watch the writers use one of the patient’s illnesses as a joke without feeling like they were being derogatory to the person; in fact they turn the situation ... ...the film is all about Patch and so mainly focuses on his character, but supporting Williams are some brilliant performances from the likes of Daniel London as his best friend Truman Schiff and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a fellow medical student who pours scorn on Patch’s wild antics. There is also a thoroughly enjoyable but small performance from Michael Jeter as a mental patient who Patch helps conquers his fear of invisible squirrels.
When I realised ...
christianfilmcritic 09.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Patch Adams (DVD)
Advantages: Can make you cry Disadvantages: Can make you cry again!
...I saw the film Patch Adams all the way through not so long ago. I felt I had to watch it because I saw the end of it ages ago once and it really intrigued me! Patch Adams is based on a true story, and I can say that this is one of the films that made me laugh and made me cry…
The Story: (out in 1998)
At the start of the film, we see Hunter Adams on his way to a mental institute to commit himself after a failed suicide attempt and being depressed. ... ...here he got his nickname Patch (but I won't tell you how) and realised that he wanted to be a doctor to help people, like he was able to do in the institute, so after insulting his own doctor and telling him he sucks, Patch heads off to the University of Virginia medical school to achieve his ambition. It is here Patch made his allies, and his enemies. He disagreed with Dean Walcott's speech on how "we're going to ruthlessly drain the humanity out ...
MissTopaz 22.10.2004 (29.08.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Patch Adams (DVD)
Advantages: A heart warming, yet truthful story Disadvantages: A little bit sad
...man - Throughout his stay Patch meets many people, who even though on the outside people would think they were crazy he learnt to look beyond that problem and see the person beneath. So, after helping the squirrel fearing room mate to pee (watch the movie), Patch decides he wants to be a doctor.
He enrols as a mature student in medical school, and after the Dean’s opening speech, Patch is non too impressed - especially with the fact that they ... ...white coat on?
Finally, Patch gets to do what he loves - spend time with patients, making their dreams come true - making them laugh.
The main theme behind the movie is Patch's struggle to help break down the hierarchical structure that exists within the medical profession - Fighting as the patient's advocate at all time.
Patch’s methods of caring are frowned upon by some, and so Patch decides to set up his own hospital, with both wonderful ...
Belfastgirl 19.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Patch Adams (DVD)
Advantages: You won't know whether to laugh or cry Disadvantages: You might run out of kleenex
...award winner; Robin Williams is Patch Adams. An inspirational doctor who is a bit out of the ordinary, who believes that the best medicine is laughter and that doctor's should look past the disease at the patient.
The film is a heart-warming comedy based on a true story and I can guarantee you will go through a series of emotions; you’ll be laughing crying and most of all smiling!
Hunter Adams is a doctor with a difference, he himself has ... ...to enhance the patients healing Patch Adams introduces the idea to the medical profession that they should treat the patients not the disease. He knows that in hospital people suffer from loneliness, boredom and most of all fear and medicine cannot treat this only a friendly face can. He gains all this knowledge from his own experiences and he is determined to put it into practice.
Starring alongside Williams are actors such as Monica Potter who ...
vix_on 10.07.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Patch Adams (DVD)
Advantages: Great comedy and touching compassion Disadvantages: Perhaps not funny enough for Robin Williams fans.
...sentimental and sad.
Patch Adams is one of life’s drifters. Although he is essentially a genius, his lack of direction and depressions has left him in a mental hospital. After being released he embarks on a journey of discovery. He decides he wants to become a doctor and so begins to work in a hospital. He soon finds that he excels at medical studies much to the chagrin of other students who have to work hard.
Patch Adams is a man who does ... ...a tragic love story as Patch Adams woes a beautiful woman, wins her and tragically loses her.
Without giving too much of the plot away, the movie will make you laugh (at Patch’s antics) cry (at the futility and despair, and also at the sad twist to the story), the story will inspire you, not only because of Patch’s determination but also because of the strength of the dying in the face of adversity. I found the comedy to be very humble, ...
Simoncook1 13.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Patch Adams (DVD)
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Advantages: fillsyou with hope Disadvantages: you will cry
Patchadams was based on a true story. From the broken man Patch ,who commited himself to a menatl hospital only realising his destiny by a genuous scincetist who nobody understands he then touchingly helps various patients and eventually walks out deeming himself sane. He then enlists at UNiverseity to become a doctor as " i want to help people". He faces mcuh opposition from younger peers starin philip seymour hoffman. He challlenges hospital rules at the inhumane way they treat people as if they are objects of study instead of humand. Along with his freind Truman and after some convinving- his girlfriend Corrine. As they realise they can help people they talk and communicate and make people laugh in hopsital;.Humour is key to healing.
I love this film , it show every emotion and fills you with hope and remeber to laugh each day. ...
starstruckdownlove 05.06.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Patch Adams (DVD)
Advantages: Gratuitous Disadvantages: Not gratuitous enough
. It makes it kind of like a poorer “X-Men” in that it’s based on a well-loved concept but uses its time to set up a potentially killer sequel.
I for one hope they get around to a second instalment – I didn’t hate the movie, it’s just patchier than a patchwork quilt made by PatchAdams in a cabbage patch. At the cinema it’s unremarkable – on DVD you can flash forward to the good parts. And on video, you can tape over it with The Simpsons 'Treehouse of Horror' specials. Now THAT’S good zombie action! “Take that Einstein!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Things I learned from watching this movie:
· Crack military units ain’t what they used to be.
· Zombies only appear on their own if they’re related to the person they’re about to try and eat.
· Flesh getting caught ...
Advantages: Entertaining Disadvantages: Not at all special
's nothing wrong with getting away from the serious and analytical side of movies for a bit to enjoy one. My main complaint was that while the marketing (and title) would have one believing the Mummy itself is the center of the movie, half the film is over before the characters are introduced to it, and, perhaps I've just been too watered down by the walking pile of bandages typical of present day adaptions, but the the character just didn't give off the same distant feeling I associate with a Mummy. It had a personality and speech, and became more and more human throughout the film.
Now to take a look at the DVD itself. This movie will be released in two packages. Unlike PatchAdams, both the Pan & Scan and Widescreen package will contain all the special features. This is a real duel of aspect ratios, we'll see which one wins out. The version ...
Directors Commentary, Making Of Featurette, Production Notes, Filmography, Theatrical Trailer, Interviews, Out Takes
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.0
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.0 English German
DVD Description
Tom Shadyac's (ACE VENTURA) film tells the true story of Hunter "Patch" Adams (Robin Williams), an aspiring doctor in the 1970s who attempted to treat his patients with a medicine that modern science had totally disregarded: humor. After a stint in a mental hospital where he discovers his need to help others, a young Patch enters medical school. There he develops his own methods of reaching patients as an antidote to the the pomposity he witnesses in his instructors and fellow students. While his patients and fellow staff members appreciate his approach, the powers-that-be frown upon his "unschooled" methods and attempt to prevent him from practicing. Philip Seymour Hoffman (MAGNOLIA) and Monica Potter (ALONG CAME A SPIDER) co-star in this crowd pleaser based on a book by Adams.
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