Patch Adams

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Patch Adams is a (loosely) Based on a True Story movie starring Robin Williams as Hunter "Patch" Adams, released in 1998. It was directed by Tom Shadyac.

Patch admits himself to a mental institution after having suicidal thoughts. Finding himself in uncomfortable situations with the other patients, he copes by using humour, which he finds allows him to connect with the patients and helps them cope with their neuroses. These experiences inspire him with a new purpose and he discharges himself, later enrolling as a mature student in a medical school.

At the school he is frustrated by the detached approach he is expected to take to medical care, and the fact that he will not be allowed to interact with patients for the first two years of his degree. Believing that doctors should take a more human approach, Patch keeps sneaking into the hospital to cheer up patients with his whacky, over-the-top humour. His unorthodox attitude and rule-breaking put him as odds with the school's faculty, especially the Dean, but they acknowledge that he has talent, with consistent good grades.

In his third year, Patch starts work on the Gesundheit! Institute, which he runs along with two friends from the school. They're optimistic despite the shortage of funds and the fact that they're effectively trying to practice medicine without a license, which could easily be Patch's undoing with the Dean already on his back. And then there's the question of whether they have enough security to treat potentially disturbed patients...

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Tropes used in Patch Adams include:

• Alone with the Psycho:
  • In the beginning of the film, Patch is forced to room with a man who goes ape-shit on a regular basis in reaction to imaginary squirrels on the ground. Patch is, to say the least, uncomfortable with the arrangement.
  • Carin's visit to Larry Silver's house. It doesn't end well for either of them.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Patch does numerous funny things at the hospital, annoying Dean Walcott, but Patch's grades are among the highest in the class.
  • Which is even stranger considering that he never studies.
• Character Title
• Cloudcuckoolander: Patch.
• Comedy as a Weapon: Patch believes in helping patients through humor and laughter.
• Dan Browned
• Dean Bitterman
• Driven to Suicide: Patch's attempted suicide is what kick-starts the story. He contemplates it again later on.
• Fan Disservice: Patch moons the audience at his graduation.
• Gender Flip: The person Carin is based on was a man in real life.
• Jerkass: Patch is this in the eyes of the Dean and initially to Carin. Some of his antics, such as the gynecologist setup, could be construed more as this than the opposite intention of being humorous.
• Karma Houdini: Patch doesn't just get away with things that are ethically questionable, but outright illegal, like stealing drugs from a hospital and practicing medicine without a license. Yet, he somehow manages to worm out of getting expelled from medical school, much less getting sent to prison.
• The Lancer: Truman.
• Neutral Female: Carin once she stops being a Straw Feminist. Really, she answers the phone and hears an obviously insane man who wants "somebody to talk to." So naturally, she goes to his house alone.It doesn't go well.
• The Obi-Wan: Mendelson.
• Punch Clock Villain
• Rape as Backstory: Carin was apparently molested as a child.
• Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!
• Straw Character: Most of the faculty. The social issue Patch is facing was not really a revolutionary idea (the term "bedside manner" long predates him entering Med School), but almost all of the people opposing him act as though being apathetic Dr Jerks is the supreme goal of medicine.
• Straw Feminist: Carin is obviously insecure about being a woman in a male-dominated profession, and refuses Patch's (platonic!) advances for fear of showing weakness and contempt for his carefree attitude. She warms up to him considerably when she sees that his grades are near the top of the class.... and ends up getting killed as a result.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Lots of changes were made. Most notably, the romantic love interest Carin was really a male best friend of Patch Adams.
• Villainous Breakdown: "MOST UNORTHODOOOOOOOX!!!"