Patch Adams

This slushy comedy drama, set in 1969, tells the 'true story' of misfit Hunter Doherty Adams who, having spent time in a mental home, enlists in medical school and proceeds to shake up the US medical system by being his 'excessively happy' self. He cheers up terminally ill kids by wearing an enema bulb on his nose. The film is all about the healing qualities of laughter and generally getting on an equal level with others. Admirable, of course - except, this being a Williams vehicle, there's also an overdose of sentimental claptrap, underscored by Marc Shaiman's clichéd string arrangements.