A film so caught up in beating us over the head with its message that it fails to be logical, believable or even very entertaining.
Comment
02/14/02
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John Q (2002)
22
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:127
Fresh:28
Rotten:99
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Anne Heche, James Woods
Director: Nick Cassavetes
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Reviews for John Q
So earnest and well-meaning, and so stocked with talent, that you almost forget the sheer, ponderous awfulness of its script.
02/14/02
A satisfying piece of Americana in the age of the gun.
02/14/02
Top CriticDirector Nick Cassavetes and screenwriter James Kearns make Washington look silly for the first time in his career.
02/14/02
Content merely to lionize its title character and exploit his anger - all for easy sanctimony, formulaic thrills and a ham-fisted sermon on the need for national health insurance.
02/14/02
Top CriticBefore long, the film starts playing like General Hospital crossed with a Saturday Night Live spoof of Dog Day Afternoon.
02/14/02
Top CriticWashington’s performance is almost unbearably heartbreaking, but more lamentable is the fact that he’s stuck in such an offensively simplistic story.
02/14/02
The actors and technicians help to elevate [John Q] above its source material.
02/14/02
A meretricious melodrama that manages to reduce serious social and economic issues to the most cheaply sensationalistic level.
02/14/02
...feels as if (there's) a choke leash around your neck so director Nick Cassavetes can give it a good, hard yank whenever he wants you to feel something.
02/14/02
It's not a perfect film by any means ... but overall, it entertained me.
02/13/02
An edgy, poignant drama that has its heart in the right place.
02/13/02
The formula film survives its needless mistakes in scripting and becomes a powerful motion picture in spite of itself.
02/13/02
The police must contend with hoards of supporters hoping that John will come out and chant, "Attica! Attica!"
02/12/02
Moviegoers will enjoy the all-star cast and the near-constant tension, but they will be won over by Washington's performance and the timely cause.
02/12/02
The ending is a cop-out. What happens to John Q? I don't have an I Am Sam clue.
02/11/02
It's tough being a black man in America, especially when the Man has taken away your car, your work-hours and denied you health insurance.
02/09/02
The melodrama is unpleasant and the heavy-handed moralizing is entirely unnecessary.
02/08/02
Imagine the worst episode of Chicago Hope never aired, and it still won't even begin to describe the agonizing ordeal that is John Q.
02/08/02
Top CriticIt's bad enough Q tries to squeeze in heady messages about gun control, healthcare and workers' rights, but it also insists on playing up the button-pushing race thing.
02/01/02
Latest News for John Q
November 27, 2008:
Wellsphere.com: The Denzel Washington John Q Interview 
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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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