Patch Adams
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
26
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
9
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
A perfect vehicle for Robin Williams. He again plays the compassionate, manic clown that has been his main character throughout his movie career. And audiences love his wild end runs. Read full review
60
VarietyJoe Leydon
Shamelessly sappy and emotionally manipulative, Patch Adams is an aggressively heartwarming comedy-drama that may be roasted by critics but embraced by ticketbuyers. Read full review
60
EmpireDarren Bignell
So the prognosis is generally positive, though there may be a touch too much sugar in this motion picture panacea, which is, in places, shamelessly sentimental to an extraordinarily manipulative degree. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyF. X. Feeney
Williams is a great clown, and Oedekirk and Shadyac give him room to really cut loose, and cure the movie. That’s as it should be. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The kind of film that will work for an audience that's just interested in having an emotional experience (with a happy ending) without caring how obviously or clumsily they are manipulated. I find this sort of sledgehammer film making to be offensive, but there are those who enjoy it. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerEdvins Beitiks
Could have been maudlin from start to finish. Instead, more than half the 154-minute film is riveting - filled with funny, touching bits that don't stoop to cheap sentimentality. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Low humor might count for more here if it weren't constantly overshadowed by the film's maudlin streak. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The film begins to resemble the dramatic equivalent of a porno movie, with emotional orgasms spewing forth at a rapid clip. By the time Patch Adams reaches its narrative climax, it has long since shot its dramatic load. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The perfectly acceptable shtick executed by Williams--whose I-know-you-better-than-you-know-yourself seduction techniques ought to make him a hotter leading man--occasionally justifies the relentlessly light tone of this preachy 1998 comedy-drama. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJack Mathews
Williams knows when material is working, and he knows the sound of an honestly aroused crowd. This ain't it! Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
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. Read full review
33
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The movie starts with insights about the need for more humane values in health care, then buries them under an avalanche of frivolities, vulgarities, and clichés. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineSteve Noveck
Williams isn't really playing Adams: He's once again playing himself, and the act is getting tired. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
If laughter is the best medicine, Patch Adams is but a sugary, fitfully amusing placebo. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ray Conlogue
Patch Adams is a flawed visionary, but surely he deserves better than this crass and manipulative movie. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsDavid Kehr
Patch Adams is either a brilliantly sly, straight-faced parody of the standard Robin Williams tearjerker or the soggiest movie of the season. [24 December 1998, p. 29]
20
The New YorkerDavid Denby
This shameless piece of sentimentality is indignantly on the side of feelings and spontaneity and against coldhearted technique, as if those were the only two choices in training doctors. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Audiences may find this pap brimming with heart and sympathy for the little guy, but as prescriptions go, Patch Adams is pure placebo. Read full review
0
Village VoiceDennis Lim
The year's most repugnant movie. Read full review
0
Washington PostStephen Hunter
There should be a special room in Hell where the makers of films like Patch Adams are sent. Read full review
0
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Oooh, this is toxic. Read full review
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