PATCH ADAMS

• Starring Robin Williams
• Directed by Tom Shadyac
• Rated PG-13, with profanity, violence; running time 115 minutes
• With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a 5

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(Dec. 25, 1998) -- Kind-hearted Robin Williams uses humor as a tonic in 'Patch Adams' Hunter "Patch" Adams was criticized in his medical school record for "excessive happiness." He was told that if he wanted to be a clown, he should "join the circus."

But Adams believed that humor is a great healer and kept on prescribing laughter for his patients.

The story of a clown rebel in the medical profession seems like ideal fodder for a film. The result is Patch Adams, with Robin Williams in the title role -- a sentimental offering to bring good cheer for the holidays.

But although the real-life Adams has shown great imagination as a doctor, the same can't be said for director Tom Shadyac and his producers. Using Robin Williams here is about as original as "take two aspirin and call me in the morning."

In his performance, the talented comedian goes at least once too often to the same well. Patch is but a slight variation on the doctor Williams played in Awakenings, the teacher in Dead Poets Society and the psychologist in Good Will Hunting. He's yet another good-hearted man who dances to the beat of a different drummer and finds solace in humor.

Patch Adams could have been far more imaginative with a less obvious star -- somebody who might surprise us. At any rate, it's Williams who plays the older-than-average med student battling stuffy professors who believe the clown-doctor approach threatens the sanctity of their profession.

His chief antagonist, the stiff-necked med school department chairman, is played by Bob Gunton -- the stiff-necked warden of The Shawshank Redemption.

More successful are the actors cast as Adams' fellow med students: Monica Potter, who admires his conviction but fears that working with him will interfere with her studies; newcomer Daniel London, a nerdy kid who becomes his staunch defender; and fast-rising Fairport native Philip Seymour Hoffman, an arrogant blueblood who's frustrated that Patch can ace his courses and still be such a clown.