'Patches' Mends This Tired Formulamatic Comedy

Rating: 6/10 (20 March 2006)

Well, here is yet another sleazy PG-13 modern-day comedy that also has genuinely funny characters and scenes. For those of us who care it's a shame we have have to put up with the bad stuff if you want laughs out of about any comedy made in the last 30 years....and this is a prime example. By the way, this is an "R" all the way, if any concerned parents are reading this. You need a computer to add up all the sex jokes in here and the last 30 minutes are really, really stupid. Both of those are typical, too. Yet, most of my friends said this was hilarious and to check the film out.
Prior to the typically-dumb ending are some very funny moments, mostly provided by Ben Stiller's over-the-top fitness guru, "White Goodman," a man who runs an ultra high-tech fitness center. Vince Vaughan plays the likable good guy small-gym owner who is in competition with Stiller, sort of like David against Goliath, the nerds against the jocks.....another formula that is so often used these days in comedies because it's always fun to see the little guy knock off the arrogant big jerk. Christine Taylor is the token young "hottie" that you also see in these kind of pictures: skinny, pretty, but not exactly the wholesome type.
Rip Torn almost steals the show as "Patches O'Houlihan," the old man who helps coach the underdog volleyball team using some unorthodox methods. I laugh every time I think of him. In fact, "Patches" puts the added edge in this film to elevate it slightly above a "fair" rating.
A lot of the humor in here is the improbableness of the whole story. Of course, it's an insult to anyone's intelligence but that's part of the charm and one does get a decent amount of laughs for an hour-and-half, so it's not all bad.