PATCH ADAMS
Starring Robin Williams, Monica Potter, Bob Gunton, Josef Sommer, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel London
Directed by Tom Shadyac
Rated PG-13

"In the quiet, sterile, somber confines of a hospital, a clown with giant shoes and an enormous red nose suddenly bursts through a door and strides down the hall. Patients beware... laughter is contagious!"

Academy Award-winner Robin Williams is Patch Adams--a doctor who believes in laughter as medicine and will do just about anything to make his patients laugh--even if it means risking his own career. Based on a true story, Patch Adams combines sidesplitting humor with an inspiring story that transcends the traditional comedy.

Hunter 'Patch' Adams was criticized in his official medical school record for "excessive happiness" and was once told by a faculty advisor, "If you want to be a clown, join the circus." The real-life, true-story Patch did, in fact, want to be a clown. But he also wanted to be a physician. Combining vastly different sides of his personality, he became both. Patch's remarkable story, which includes having been a patient and a doctor at a mental institute, celebrates the triumph of spirited individualism and the unending pursuit of idealism.

Says Robin Williams, "Patch is a strange anomaly, just incredible. He wears massively bright floral shirts and a tie that occasionally makes noise. He's an outrageous person but a passionate and dedicated doctor. He never wanted to be part of the system, he had to create a new system."

Director Tom Shadyac explains, "Patch is a healer who tries to find out what makes you tick. What do you like? What excites you? What's your passion? Fulfilling his patients' fantasies increases their endorphin levels and their desire to recover."

Fighting conventional wisdom, allowing himself to be vulnerable, and embracing the idea that service of others is the best way to combat your own problems, Patch Adams reaches people. Easing patients' anxiety to enhance their healing, Patch helped pioneer the then-startling idea that doctors should treat people, not just disease. Compassion, involvement and empathy, Patch holds, are as great a value to physicians as breakthrough medicines and technological advancements. Radical thinking, then and now.

- patchadams.com