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Movies / On DVD / John Q
John Q

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John Q (2002)

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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.

Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Dramas

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

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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Doesn't so much need a heart as a brain transplant.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/22/02
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
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N/R

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Full Review Source: FilmFour.com | comment Comment
04/30/02
FilmFour.com
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
05/13/02
Guardian [UK]
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
08/12/02
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

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

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

Great for thirty-five minutes, then drops into a dead zone and stays there for an hour and change.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
05/05/02
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

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Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/30/02
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

In case you haven't figured it out, John Q is a Message Movie. Actually, it's more like a 2-hour Public Service Announcement.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
02/25/02
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

The melodrama is unpleasant and the heavy-handed moralizing is entirely unnecessary.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
02/08/02
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

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

Before long, the film starts playing like General Hospital crossed with a Saturday Night Live spoof of Dog Day Afternoon.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
02/14/02
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
02/24/02
Steve Davis
Steve Davis
Austin Chronicle

I dig the message but prefer a better use of Mr. Washington's many talents.

Full Review Source: BeatBoxBetty.com | comment Comment
02/19/02
BeatBoxBetty.com
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N/R

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

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/27/02
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The mushy finale turns John Q into a movie-of-the-week tearjerker.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
02/15/02
Paul Clinton (Boxoffice)
Paul Clinton (Boxoffice)
Boxoffice Magazine

Whether or not you favor a national health system (and I do), you may not want to be clubbed over the head by this rhetoric.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
02/15/02
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer

It is so earnest, so overwrought and so wildly implausible that it begs to be parodied.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
02/15/02
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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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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