Philip Seymour Hoffman: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Mitch - Patch Adams

Speaking of films nobody likes, even when star Robin Williams also sadly passed away this year, nobody could bring themselves to say a good word about Patch Adams. Even the actual doctor whose life the movie was based on hated the film, remaining openly critical about it during its release and continuing to bad mouth it years later. It's a complete misfire on all accounts, as it takes the genuinely compelling life of Dr Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams - social activist, physician, and all-round interesting dude - and reduces him to "doctor who put a clown nose on". With a queasy mix of sentiment of childish humour, the movie Patch Adams manages to hit neither the poignant emotions or belly laughs it required to actually be enjoyable. Instead it was just terrible, almost certainly owing to problems with the script by Steve Oedekerk, who brought us such exquisite fare as Evan Almighty and The Nutty Professor. Which is a shame, because Williams €“ who so often struck the right balance between gravitas and comedy in his films, stand up and even his life €“ looked to be perfect casting for the eponymous role. More surprising amongst the cast list is a young Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays Patch's former medical school roommate, Mitch Roman. We're not sure what they were going for with Mitch, but whatever it was, they definitely failed. As the man who represents the sort of stuffy bureaucracy Patch Adams is railing against with his pioneering medical techniques (taking "laughter is the best medicine" literally), the filmmakers saw fit to dress Hoffman like a Harvard dean and - for reasons we can't comprehend - insist he do an English accent. Which, bless him, Hoffman only ever half commits to, since he clearly can't quite nail it. It's like a crap, po-faced version of the sycophantic Brandt from the Big Lebowksi. In a much crapper, po-faced film.