ironically , what i was most excited about seeing in patch adams is what eventually left me feeling cheated by it in the end . after seeing the trailers , i knew i was going to get robin williams playing that lovably sensitive , extremely funny man , that shows people there's more to life . you know , the guy from dead poets society and good will hunting . i love that guy ; probably because he had truly inspired me before . and things were going so well for the first two-thirds of this movie too . until it was over and i thought to myself , " wait , i think i've seen this movie before . " in the end , my impression of patch adams is that is has some really funny scenes , and you can't help but fall in love with the guy when he's doing all of these great things , a lot of which you have probably seen in the trailers . and he has a lot to teach everyone he comes into contact with in the film . so throughout i'm thinking , " what a great guy ; i wish i was more like him . " which is always a good set-up . but it never follows through . the dramatic conclusion falls flat , and based on a true story or not , the plot points are a bit cliched . patch adams is a comedy , but more appropriately it would be classified as an inspirational film . and the hallmark of the inspirational film is that climactic scene at the end where the inspirational character takes a stand and is met by stiff consequences , but ultimately we realize that he made a difference . you see it in dead poets society in the " oh captain , my captain " scene . in patch adams though , it never comes . though patch does take an emotional stand at the end in a scene that tries to steal the emotion of a film like dead poets society , i don't know that we're convinced that he truly made a difference . he is a great guy , yes , but maybe not great enough . 
