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Movies / On DVD / John Q
John Q

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John Q (2002)

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Reviews Counted:32

Fresh:4

Rotten:28

Average Rating: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

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Reviews for John Q

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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A polemic in search of a plot.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/06/02
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
08/09/02
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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Manipulative sentimentality, contrived plot and phony climax.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
03/13/02
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer
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A sappy, melodramatic Denzel Washington vehicle that ensnares you in the standard hostage-movie scenario and doesn't let go until the director runs the whole playbook.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
03/04/02
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
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It pulls out more stops than that old silent serial The Perils of Pauline. Unfortunately, it's a talkie.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
02/24/02
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
02/24/02
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
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Cassavetes thinks he's making Dog Day Afternoon with a cause, but all he's done is to reduce everything he touches to a shrill, didactic cartoon.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
02/21/02
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
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...a ridiculous script that gets just about everything wrong...

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
02/19/02
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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Represents a creative dead end for the organ-transplant movie.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
02/19/02
Ed Park
Ed Park
Village Voice
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The movie's manipulations become so transparent that it can't really touch our emotions, especially since it fails to follow through honestly on its premise.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
02/16/02
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
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It is a film that taps a deep well of resentment, and despite all its flaws, it is highly effective entertainment.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
02/15/02
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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It reduces the complexities to bromides and slogans and it gets so preachy-keen and so tub-thumpingly loud it makes you feel like a chump just for sitting through it.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
02/15/02
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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One can excuse the movie's missteps and melodramatic moments in the greater interest of the strong statement it makes about our health care system.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
02/15/02
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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Stacks its emotional deck in favour of the reluctant hero so high it threatens to collapse.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
02/15/02
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
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Timidly dips its toe into important issues only to abandon them for cheap entertainment prancing around in faux sackcloth.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
02/15/02
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
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Philosophically, intellectually and logistically a mess.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
02/15/02
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
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Not a movie but a live-action agitprop cartoon so shameless and coarse, it's almost funny.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
02/15/02
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
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A poorly scripted, preachy fable that forgets about unfolding a coherent, believable story in its zeal to spread propaganda.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
02/15/02
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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It's a powerful though flawed movie, guaranteed to put a lump in your throat while reaffirming Washington as possibly the best actor working in movies today.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
02/15/02
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle
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Like a tone-deaf singer at a benefit concert, John Q. is a bad movie appearing on behalf of a good cause.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
02/15/02
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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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...

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