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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 date; UK critics are listed first)
Bubble View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
splat
2/5

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 30 2006 06:54 AM

Empire Magazine

N/R

Geoff Andrew

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 09 2006 03:17 AM

Time Out

N/R

Alexander Walker

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 15 2003 05:24 PM

This is London

tomato
4/5

Matthew Turner

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 30 2002 08:18 AM

ViewLondon

N/R

Rich Cline

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 12 2002 08:14 AM

Shadows on the Wall

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 13 2002 08:06 AM

Guardian [UK]

splat
2/4

Ian Waldron-Mantgani

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 05 2002 08:04 AM

UK Critic

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 30 2002 08:05 AM

FilmFour.com

splat
2/5

Neil Smith

Doesn't so much need a heart as a brain transplant.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 22 2002 08:05 AM

BBC

splat
2/4

Peter Canavese

Strands good actors in mushy, movie-of-the-week material. [Blu-ray]

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 17 2009 12:06 PM

Groucho Reviews

N/R

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 29 2009 03:16 AM

Cinema Crazed

splat
0/5

Rob Gonsalves

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: | comment 1 Comment | Sep., 24 2007 08:07 AM

eFilmCritic.com

splat
C

Emanuel Levy

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: | comment Comment | Dec., 18 2006 11:49 AM

EmanuelLevy.Com

tomato
3.5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 06 2005 08:02 PM

Film Threat

tomato
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 06 2005 08:02 PM

Film Threat

splat
2.5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 06 2005 08:02 PM

Film Threat

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 01 2004 08:21 AM

FilmStew.com

splat
2/4

Greg Maki

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 07 2004 02:58 PM

Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

N/R

Wilson Morales

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 13 2003 05:10 PM

BlackFilm.com

tomato
3.5/5

John R. McEwen

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 08 2003 08:17 AM

Film Quips Online

 
 
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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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