2. Patch Adams - 1998
This one actually surprised me the most, it was either this or The Dead Poets Society. I am a Robin Williams fan I admit, the hairy tons of fun that he is. I grew up with Mrs Doubtfire and Hook, so he was kind of burned into my consciousness anyway. Patch Adams however, pretty much changed everything for me though, it moved the goal posts to such a degree I'd be better off playing basketball. Forget that it was a 'Hollywood true story' (the real Patch Adams apparently didn't rate it very highly) . It is simply the schmaltz of it that got me and some of the one liners are genuinely well executed, and Robin Williams performance is actually brilliant. I work part-time as a teacher, and I have a personality that is not unlike Williams'. I tend to bounce around like a ball. This movie simply taught me that humour can heal, and it can help people to learn, and having a bit of fun in any profession is nothing to scoff at, but rather something to be embraced and made fun out of. On the back of this, I was able to teach the students some things that would have been likened to nailing your member to a post beforehand. But with a touch of humour, a sprinkling of idiocy, and a dash of optimism, I taught them that anything truly can be possible. Somehow I managed to teach myself that too. So don't knock it before you try it. Sure, it's horrendously schmaltzy and idealistic, but it can be incredibly poignant and sometimes, that's just what we need.