Patch Adams (1998) poster
1998 · comedy · drama

Patch Adams

Directed by Tom Shadyac1h 55m1998
ElsewhereIMDb6.9129kRT22%Metacritic26
  • warm
  • brisk
  • gentle
Movie DNA

Warm, kinetic, gentle comedy / drama, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

The true story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, who in the 1970s found that humor is the best medicine, and was willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh—even if it meant risking his own career.

Our read · Patch Adams (1998) reads as a warm, kinetic, grounded comedy · drama entry — gentle in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Patch Adams

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want Robin Williams warmth, hospital-clown healing, and earnest tears between the gags.

ends bittersweetit stays with youa slow buildgrips by minute 16attention 3/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upsuicide theme

Skip it tonightYou are avoiding medical grief, institutional cruelty, or inspirational-biopic sentiment tonight.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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