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Movies / On DVD / John Q
John Q

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John Q (2002)

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22 %
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Reviews Counted: 126

Fresh: 28

Rotten:98

Average Rating: 4.4/10

Consensus: Washington's performance rises above the material, but John Q pounds the audience over the head with its message.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence, language, and some intense thematic elements

Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Feb 15, 2002 Wide

Box Office: $71,026,631

Synopsis: John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington) is struggling through a recession trying to provide for his son Mikey (Daniel E. Smith) and his waitress wife (Kimberly Elise). Mikey collapses at a Little... John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington) is struggling through a recession trying to provide for his son Mikey (Daniel E. Smith) and his waitress wife (Kimberly Elise). Mikey collapses at a Little League game and is rushed to a hospital. The situation is bleak. Only a heart transplant will save Mikey's life. John's HMO refuses to cover the expensive surgery. With the hospital and his insurance provider unwilling to help and his wife pleading with John to act, he takes matters into his own hands, holding the hospital's renowned heart surgeon (James Woods) and several others hostage in an emergency care wing until the surgery will be performed. Nick Cassavetes directed this attack on the American health care system. Like his previous feature, SHE'S SO LOVELY, Cassavetes proves adept at mining the political ramifications out of human drama. The film criticizes hospitals and health care providers for working in collusion against the working class. This moving drama is propelled by the intense lead performance by Washington as one man against an unjust system. [More]

Starring: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Anne Heche, James Woods

Starring: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Anne Heche, James Woods, Ray Liotta, Kimberly Elise, Daniel E. Smith, Shawn Hatosy, Eddie Griffin, Kevin Connolly, Troy Winbush

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Director: Nick Cassavetes
Screenwriter: James Kearns
Producer: Mark Burg, Oren Koules
Composer: Aaron Zigman
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Release:

Jul 16, 2002

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for John Q

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Strands good actors in mushy, movie-of-the-week material. [Blu-ray]

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
05/17/09
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

The movie comes dangerously close to saying that the solution to a personal grievance is, well, terrorism, when you get right down to it.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/24/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine

Social messages, simplistic action, and teary melodrama are manipulatively but unsuccessfully mixed in this picture, which tries to provide a "hard" look at an honest working-class man (Washington) who loses control while trying to save his child's life

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/18/06
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
02/01/04
FilmStew.com

Instead of presenting the story and allowing us to draw our own conclusions, Cassavetes blatantly tells us what we should think.

Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | comment Comment
01/07/04
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
12/15/03
Alexander Walker
This is London
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: BlackFilm.com | comment Comment
05/13/03
Wilson Morales
BlackFilm.com

Washington, Woods, and Duvall are so capable, they almost save this schlock-fest from itself.

Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
02/08/03
John R. McEwen
Film Quips Online

A coercive script by James Kearns, and some middling direction by Nick Cassavetes, can't rob the movie of an undeniable, headlong crowd-pleasing power as it tackles an issue that touches us all.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
01/21/03
John Patterson
L.A. Weekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Film Threat

An emotional, heart-wrenching story that not only takes viewers on a journey within their own souls, but also opens up their eyes to the way the health care system works.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Heather Wadowski
Film Threat

It may push more buttons than envelopes but John Q is a good old fashioned potboiler that generates ripped from the headlines heat.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat

"Socially conscious" Denzel Washington thriller wants to tackle tough questions -- but settles for easy answers.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
Netflix

A polemic in search of a plot.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/06/02
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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Latest News for John Q

November 27, 2008: Wellsphere.com: The Denzel Washington John Q Interview Opens in new window
More...

March 23, 2006: Critical Consensus: "Inside Man" is Certified Fresh, Second Best-Reviewed Wide Release Of
Tension: it's the key to many a film, and this week's wide releases bring three variants on that theme. We've got a hostage situation ("Inside Man"), class conflict... More...

February 22, 2006: Cassavetes Working on Fact-Based "Bomb"
Filmmaker Nick Cassavetes will soon get to work on "Bombing Harvey," a fact-based tale of a Hungarian scientist who tried to plant a bomb in a Lake Tahoe casino in an... More...

See More Topics...

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