Have you ever wondered how might get a nickname, especially one like ’’Patch’’? When ’’Patch Adams’’ came out, I sure wondered why anyone would be called Patch. Although, it is a pretty good nickname for someone who is a doctor. Well, maybe if you are a mechanic.
This movie starts off with a man named Hunter Adams (Robin Williams)who feels suicidal and checks himself into a mental hospital where he shares a room with another man whose afraid to leave his bed because of the imaginary rabbits that attack him. Or was it squirrels? Well, anyway, you get the idea.
Hunter meets Arthur Mendelsohn, I’m sorry but I don’t know this actor’s name, in this hospital on Hunter’s first day. Mendelsohn walks up to Hunter, holding up four fingers, asks how many fingers he’s got up, and then gets mad at Hunter because Hunter says four. Later Mendelsohn starts calling Hunter ’’Patch’’ but it’s a touching moment so I won’t ruin it for you.
Soon Patch (Hunter) has now got the patients laughing, including his roommate whom Patch helps overcome the rabbit thing.
Finally Patch leaves the mental hospital against medical advice and goes through medical school. While he’s learning to be a doctor, he manages to teach the establishment a few things like using patients’ names and treating the whole patient just by treating the patient as a person. Patch steps on a lot of toes, including the Dean’s. But Patch has some of the highest grades in his class.
This is an excellent movie. Why? Because it has all the elements of a great movie and then some. I laughed--a lot, I cried, I felt character’s losses and triumphs. It touched me heart and soul.
This is one of those must see movies, that if you only see one movie, Patch Adams is it. Just pull away from the must see TV stuff and rent this one.