MovieChat Forums > Patch Adams (1998) Discussion > Patch Adams (as portrayed) is a jerk.

Patch Adams (as portrayed) is a jerk.


I don't know about the real Patch Adams, but I thought that the character played by Robin Williams was a real jerk.

There was something a little disturbing about him sneaking into the room full of children and acting like a clown. I was wondering if he was going to play "tickle monster", and start attacking them one by one, if you know what I mean.

Carin flat out told him to back off many times and he refused to do it. Of course, in movieland, if you pester someone long enough, they will fall in love with you.

Both Carin and Mitch showed that they were willing to work their butts off to get their degree, but all PA did was clown around and try to distract them.

Excuse me. I am trying to learn about how to operate on someone and possibly save a life someday. Could you please quit playing with that skeleton and try to grow up a bit!

Anytime someone would try to set PA straight about his goofing off, PA would get in a huff about it and claim his acuser is just a homurless jerk. Awww! I can't imagine why people would take the medical practice so seriously.

His jokes about the gynecologists and open graduation gown were very juvenille at best.

Let's have a free hospital! Everyone gets treated for free! Yay! Oh, we ran out of supplies. How did that happen? Don't worry, we will just steal some from a real hospital.

As portrayed, Patch Adams reminded me of the crazy, obnoxious, drunkard, bully of an uncle who makes jokes at others expense, while parents do everything they can to keep him away from their children.

A patient is a little upset from the fact that he is slowly dying of a terminal disease, and he lets PA know, in no uncertain way, that he wants to be left alone. Does PA take a hint? No, like a bully, he decides that since he now knows what buttons to press, he just annoys the terminally ill patient even further.

The late Phillip Seymore Hoffman really outshined Robin Williams especially in that one scene where he said that a dying patient would rather have a doctor who is a prick rather than one who is a clown, but there was one thing wrong with that statement. The clown is the prick.

The only scene where PA actually wasn't being a jerk was that one scene where he asked what that patient's name was.

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A dope trailer is no place for a kitty.

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[deleted]

So Patch Adams is based on a real person?

I hope the real guy is nothing like the one in movie.

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[deleted]

The artistic license gender change of Patch's best friend might have been tolerable, except that it lead to the whole theme of wooing and dating being more important than studying. I guess it's more tragic when a pretty girl gets killed.

I also understand that watching someone hit the books does not make for an exciting scene, and a studying montage (as in Back To School or Van Wilder) could be a little cliche, but Patch never studied, showed no respect for those who were trying to study, and somehow was able to pull high scores out of his hind quarters.

Then there were the cowboy meat packers, who were too stupid to tell that a complete outsider was impersonating them and making sexual inuendos about packing meat. What a jerk!


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A dope trailer is no place for a kitty.

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Then why did he have a crush on Carin?

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In the twisted logic of the movie, we have to believe that Patch saw someone beautiful inside Carin's harsh exterior that no one else did, much like the way he could relate to the mental patients, and the dying man.

He eventually taught Carin to look beyond people's defensive outer shell and see their inner beauty. When Carin tried this, she got murdered by a crazy serial killer. Nice going, Patch! You pretentious jerkhole!

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A dope trailer is no place for a kitty.

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There was something a little disturbing about him sneaking into the room full of children and acting like a clown. I was wondering if he was going to play "tickle monster", and start attacking them one by one, if you know what I mean.


And this is where your credibility dies.
Oh yes, a male who wants to brighten the day of kids and entertain them, must be a sicko! Nope, sorry, I don't bother with the opinions of idiots.

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And this is where your credibility dies.
Oh yes, a male who wants to brighten the day of kids and entertain them, must be a sicko! Nope, sorry, I don't bother with the opinions of idiots.


THIS. Really kind of bad when your only argument dies on its first leg.

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And this is where yours dies, if one joke makes you dismiss an entire argument and label the poster an idiot. OP is right, this movie sucked, if the real guy hated it I can see why

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Oh right because repeating an overused stereotype about all men near children being pedophiles is an obvious joke. In no way is it the equivalent of opening with a racist joke and expecting everyone to still listen...

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I remember this movie well and never got that impression from Robin Williams. It seems the real Patch Adams was initially upset at the monetary distribution and, unless I am missing something, not at his portrayal being modified in a crazy way.

See reply #233808647

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I agree. He was portrayed as an irresponsible idiot. I'm a Nurse and I would make an official complaint about him if I had to work with him. The real man was apparently much more interesting and professional.

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Agreed. I'm only about 40 minutes in, but he seems like an annoying, self-righteous, irresponsible, placebo/CAM nonsense-peddling, holier-than-thou, know-it-all quack jackass.

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i bet you smell too.

i mostly will not be able to answer your reply, since marissa mayer hacked my email, no notification

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