It's Pat

It’s Pat is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Adam Bernstein, starring Julia Sweeney, Dave Foley, Charles Rocket & Kathy Griffin based on the “Saturday Night Live” character, Pat (created by Julia Sweeney) who is an androgynous misfit whose gender is never revealed.

Plot
Pat Riley is an obnoxious, chubby and whiny job-hopper who is searching for a steady foundation in life. Pat encounters Chris (whose gender is also unrevealed) and the two of them fall in love & get engaged. Meanwhile, Pat’s neighbor, a man named Kyle Jacobsen begins to develop an unhealthy obsession with unveiling Pat's gender & begins stalking Pat.

Kyle sends in a tape of Pat performing karaoke to a television show called “America's Creepiest People” which attracts Pat to the attention of the band Ween, who feature Pat in one of their performances where Pat plays the tuba.

When Pat learns that Ween intended to only use Pat for one gig, Pat and Chris break up. Kyle steals the laptop containing Pat's diary and tries to coerce Pat into revealing the computer's password, so he can access the files. Pat's only answer is that the word is in the dictionary. Kyle then begins to type in every single word in the dictionary.

Meanwhile, a gang of thugs intent on discovering Pat's gender begin harassing Pat & Pat becomes distraught over their androgynous nature. After that, Pat goes to complain to Kathy, a friend who is a therapist and the host of a radio talk show. When Pat gives acerbic reactions to call-in listeners, the station fires Kathy and replaces her with Pat. Kyle ends up going through the entire dictionary until he reaches the last word, "zythum" (an Egyptian malt beer) which is the password for Pat’s laptop. and after reading through the diary, he discovers no new information in regards to Pat's gender, and he finally snaps.

Kyle calls into Pat's radio show, and tells Pat to meet him at the “Ripley's Believe It or Not!” Museum, stating that this is the only chance for Pat to retrieve the laptop. Pat arrives to find Kyle dressed exactly like Pat. Kyle demands that Pat strip naked, but Pat runs off into a Ween concert.

After Kyle corners Pat on a catwalk, Pat falls & Pat’s clothes get caught on a hook which tears off Pat's pants and lowers Pat in front of the cheering audience even though Pat's genitals are never revealed neither to Kyle or to the viewing audience. Kyle gets taken away by security guards. Then, Pat runs to see Chris just as Chris is leaving on an ocean liner.

In the end, Pat and Chris get married. During the end credits, Kathy is hosting her radio show again and the first caller is none other than Kyle, whose obsession with Pat has driven him to cross-dressing.

Cast

 * Julia Sweeney as Pat Riley
 * Dave Foley as Chris
 * Charles Rocket as Kyle Jacobsen
 * Kathy Griffin as Herself
 * Julie Hayden as Stacy Jacobsen
 * Timothy Stack as Doctor
 * Mary Scheer as Nurse
 * Beverly Leech as Mrs. Riley
 * Tim Meadows as KVIB-FM manager
 * Phil LaMarr as Stage manager
 * Larry Hankin as Postal supervisor
 * Kathy Najimy as Tippy
 * Jerry Tondo as Sushi chef
 * Dean and Gene Ween as themselves

Production
The movie was written by Julia Sweeney, her friend Jim Emerson (from their days with The Groundlings,) and her former husband, Stephen Hibbert. While with the Groundlings, Emerson suggested that the character Pat, at the time a "character based on annoying co-workers who don't leave you alone", be made androgynous.

Three months before the film's release, Sweeney commented on her initial reluctance to do a film based on Pat, saying: “''I resisted it completely. I just didn't know how we could make it last for two hours. But 20th Century Fox was really keen; our producer was really keen. So we thought, OK, we'll write the script. And after three months, we fell madly in love with the script. Unfortunately, Fox did not''.”

After 20th Century Fox decided not to produce the film, Touchstone Pictures decided to do it.

Box Office
“It’s Pat” ranked at #19 at the box office and only opened in only three cities (33 theaters) with its total gross at $60,822. Because of this, it was pulled from theaters after its opening weekend.

Critical Reception
The movie was universally panned by critics annd has a rare 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews.

Variety magazine called the film "shockingly unfunny", noting that Sweeney had "perversely turned the relatively harmless TV character into a boorish, egotistical creep for the bigscreen" and its "only really funny bit is Sexual Personae author Camille Paglia, deftly parodying herself, commenting on the significance of Pat's androgyny.”

Accolades
The movie was nominated for multiple awards at the 16th Golden Raspberry Awards, but lost in every category to Showgirls.


 * Worst Actress: Julia Sweeney
 * Worst New Star: Julia Sweeney
 * Worst Picture: Charles B. Wessler
 * Worst Screen Couple: Dave Foley and Julia Sweeney
 * Worst Screenplay: Jim Emerson, Stephen Hibbert, and Julia Sweeney