It's Pat (1994)

Director:

Adam Bernstein

Writers (WGA):

Julia Sweeney (characters)
Jim Emerson (written by) ...

Release Date:

26 August 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Pat Riley, an obnoxious busybody of undeterminable sex, meets and falls in love with Chris, a sensitive...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Sketch Comedy | Androgyny | Saturday Night Live | Based On TV Series | Box Office Flop

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Julia Sweeney	...	Pat Riley
Dave Foley	...	Chris
Charles Rocket	...	Kyle Jacobsen
Kathy Griffin	...	Kathy Griffin
Julie Hayden	...	Stacy Jacobsen
Timothy Stack	...	Doctor
Mary Scheer	...	Nurse
Beverly Leech	...	Mrs. Riley
Larry Hankin	...	Postal Supervisor
Kathy Najimy	...	Tippy
Jerry Tondo	...	Sushi Chef
Philip McNiven	...	Sushi Customer
Michael Yama	...	Curious Sushi Man
Kiyoko Yamaguchi	...	Curious Sushi Woman
Julianne Christie	...	Strip Club Hostess

Also Known As:

It's Pat: The Movie (USA) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for bizarre gender-related humor.

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:PG | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

A scene in the film explains Pat’s sex with Japanese subtitles. It then had a worker walking in front of the subtitles while vacuuming so that Pat’s sex could not be determined by viewers. When shown on television now the subtitles are no longer included.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Pat gets fired from looking into people's mail, he walks into the store to get a few personal items. When he's talking to Tippy about getting the personal items, the eye dropper and the deodorant stick disappear and reappear between shots. Tippy puts the eye dropper and the deodorant stick inside the bag three times. The bag clearly contains three of everything, except the napkins.

Quotes:

Pat: Spekanse americano por favor?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Riding with Death (#9.14)" (1997)

surprisingly mean-spirited and unfunny

I actually liked the sketch "Pat" on SNL. It was a fresh idea - honestly, how many other "andrognenous character-sketch" routines can you name? It had its limitations, and it sure as hell could have been pushed past the "Pat almost reveals his/her gender but then doesn't" joke that seems to have been the limit of its humor.

So when there was a movie, I thought, "Hey, they're finally going to push the character beyond the one-joke limit. I like Pat, sure, I'll like the movie!" Well, I was stunned at how ineptly and poorly executed the whole thing was. The Pat character is immediately portrayed as boorish, intrusive, insensitive, and a host of other undesirable characteristics. Who decided this is what Pat was about? Who thought this would be funny? And how does this relate to the SNL character, anyway? I see no resemblance at all.

Even Dave Foley, whom I love and who is well-known for his excellence at portraying long-suffering comic characters, cannot soften the unrelenting ugliness that Pat exudes. In addition, I really think they took the low road with the "Chris" character. Of all the androgynous names they could have chosen (Terry, Bobby, Sam, the list is long), "Chris" is so boring! And the style of androgyny that was chosen, "70's-esque flower child", complete with page-boy haircut, while certainly complimenting Pat's dowdiness, was just one more joke with a very short lifespan.

By the time you finally realize the ugly boorishness that Pat is all about is not going to be a short-lived bit, but is instead the main (and only) joke, and that you will get no reprieve at all, ever, through the entire film, it will be too late. You will have suffered through the whole film, with very few laughs, and entirely missed out on a "naive-but-loveable-doofus" version of Pat, that you might have expected to get.