Box office Patch Adams was released on December 25, 1998, in the United States and Canada, and grossed $25.2 million in 2,712 theaters in its opening weekend, ranking number one at the box office. Upon opening, it achieved the third-highest December opening weekend, behind
Titanic and
Scream 2. It went on to set a record for having the highest Christmas opening weekend, beating
Michael. The film would hold this record until 2000 when
Cast Away took it. After its first weekend, it was number two for four weeks. The film grossed $135 million in the United States and Canada, and $67.3 million in other territories, totaling $202.3 million worldwide.
Critical reception On the
review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes,
Patch Adams has an approval score of 21% based on 71 reviews, and an average rating of 4.2/10. The critical consensus reads: "Syrupy performances and directing make this dramedy all too obvious." On
Metacritic, the film holds a score of 26 out of 100, based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A+ to F.
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times criticized the film's lowbrow comedy, which did not mesh well with its "maudlin streak", and that the sentiment felt "fabricated".
Lisa Schwarzbaum of
Entertainment Weekly gave the film an F, deeming it "an offensive and deeply false 'inspirational' drama", lambasting the over-simplified portrayal of the medical establishment of the time.
Robert K. Elder of the
Chicago Tribune called
Monica Potter "the best thing about the otherwise dopey
Patch Adams".
Chicago Sun-Times film critic
Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, and wrote, "
Patch Adams 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." It received "Two Thumbs Down" on his television series
Siskel & Ebert, with particular criticism toward the character of Adams, who was viewed as "overbearing", "obnoxious", and "sanctimonious", as well as noting that they would never trust a doctor who acted like Adams does. Co-host
Gene Siskel said, "I'd rather
turn my head and cough than see any part of
Patch Adams again."
Adams's reaction The real
Patch Adams has been openly critical of the film, saying that it sacrificed much of his message to make a film that would sell. He also said that out of all aspects of his life and activism, the film portrayed him merely as a funny doctor. At a
Conference on World Affairs, he told film critic Roger Ebert, "I hate that movie." During a speech in 2010 at the
Mayo Clinic, Adams said that "The film promised to build our hospital. None of the profits from the film ever came to us, and so, basically 40 years into this work, we are still trying to build our hospital." Furthermore, Adams stated, [Robin Williams] made $21 million for four months of pretending to be me, in a very simplistic version, and did not give $10 to my free hospital. Patch Adams, the person, would have, if I had Robin's money, given all $21 million to a free hospital in a country where 80 million cannot get care. Adams later clarified that he did not hate Williams, After Williams's death in 2014, Adams said, "I'm enormously grateful for his wonderful performance of my early life, which has allowed the Gesundheit Institute to continue and expand our work." == Accolades ==