Patch Adams (film)

Paul Attanasio was brought in as a script doctor to work on the film prior to shooting.[3]

The film was shot in three locations: Treasure Island, California (near San Francisco), Asheville (North Carolina), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A diner was temporarily placed in Point Richmond (a neighborhood in Richmond, California) and served as the University Diner. Several interior classroom scenes were filmed on the campus of UC Berkeley.

The film has several major departures from Adams' real history. One is that the character of Carin is fictional but is analogous to a real-life friend of Adams (a man) who was murdered under similar circumstances. Another difference is the then-47-year-old Robin Williams portrays Adams as enrolling in medical school very late in his life, his older age even being brought up in dialogue. In reality, Adams started medical school immediately and his educational progress was quite normal for a physician: he graduated high school at 18, college at 22, and medical school at 26.

The film was released on December 25, 1998, in the United States and Canada and grossed $25.2 million in 2,712 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the box office. Upon opening, it achieved the third-highest December opening weekend, behind Titanic and Scream 2. It went on to set a record for having the highest Christmas opening weekend, beating Michael.[4] For two years, the film would hold this record until 2000 when Cast Away took it.[5] After its first weekend, it was the #2 film for four weeks.[6] The film grossed US$202.3 million worldwide—$135 million in the United States and Canada and $67.3 million in other territories.[2]

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Patch Adams has an approval score of 21% based on 71 reviews and an average rating of 4.20/10. The critical consensus reads, "Syrupy performances and directing make this dramedy all too obvious."[7] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 25 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A” on scale of A to F.[9]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times criticized the film's lowbrow comedy, which did not mesh well with its "maudlin streak" and that the sentiment felt "fabricated".[10] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an F, deeming it "an offensive and deeply false 'inspirational' drama", lambasting the over-simplified portrayal of the medical establishment of the time.[11] Robert K. Elder of the Chicago Tribune called Monica Potter "the best thing about the otherwise dopey Patch Adams."[12]

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one and a half stars out of four and wrote, "Patch Adams made me want to spray the screen with Lysol. This movie is shameless. It's not merely a tearjerker. It extracts tears individually by liposuction, without anesthesia."[13] It received "Two Thumbs Down" on his television series Siskel & Ebert, with particular criticism towards the character of Patch, who was viewed as "overbearing", "obnoxious" and "sanctimonious" as well as noting that they would never trust a doctor who acted like Adams does. Co-host Gene Siskel said "I would rather turn my head and cough than see another moment of Patch Adams again".[14] He later singled it out as the worst film of 1998; it was the last film he gave a "Worst of" to before his death in 1999.

Marc Shaiman's score was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score.[15] The film was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Robin Williams).

The real Patch Adams has been openly critical of the film, saying that it sacrificed much of his message to make a selling film. He also said that out of all aspects of his life and activism, the film portrayed him merely as a funny doctor.[16] At a Conference on World Affairs, he told film critic Roger Ebert, "I hate that movie."[17]

During a speech in 2010 at the Mayo Clinic, Patch Adams said, "The film promised to build our hospital. None of the profits from the film ever came to us, and so, basically 40 years into this work, we are still trying to build our hospital."[18] Furthermore, Adams stated,

[Robin Williams] made $21 million for four months of pretending to be me, in a very simplistic version, and did not give $10 to my free hospital. Patch Adams, the person, would have, if I had Robin's money, given all $21 million to a free hospital in a country where 80 million cannot get care.[19]

Adams later clarified that he did not hate Williams,[16] and Williams actively supported St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for several years.[20] After Williams' death in 2014, Adams said "I'm enormously grateful for his wonderful performance of my early life, which has allowed the Gesundheit Institute to continue and expand our work."[21]