A polemic in search of a plot.
John Q (2002)
Tomatometer
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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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Reviews for John Q
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.
It pulls out more stops than that old silent serial The Perils of Pauline. Unfortunately, it's a talkie.
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.
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.
It is a film that taps a deep well of resentment, and despite all its flaws, it is highly effective entertainment.
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.
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.
Stacks its emotional deck in favour of the reluctant hero so high it threatens to collapse.
Timidly dips its toe into important issues only to abandon them for cheap entertainment prancing around in faux sackcloth.
Not a movie but a live-action agitprop cartoon so shameless and coarse, it's almost funny.
A poorly scripted, preachy fable that forgets about unfolding a coherent, believable story in its zeal to spread propaganda.
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.
Like a tone-deaf singer at a benefit concert, John Q. is a bad movie appearing on behalf of a good cause.
Latest News for John Q
November 27, 2008:
Wellsphere.com: The Denzel Washington John Q Interview ![]()
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...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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