John Q (2002)

Brilliant and touching

best movie i've ever seen.

Absolutely the worst movie.

The first must-see film of the year.

Released in 2002 and directed by Nick Cassavetes, "John Q" stars Denzel Washington in the title role as a factory worker in the Chicago area whose son desperately needs a heart transplant, but the biyatch at the hospital maintains that he doesn't have enough coverage (Anne Heche). John feels he has no choice but to take radical measures to save his son, even if it costs his life. James Woods plays the main doctor while Robert Duvall & Ray Liotta appear as the top officers. Kimberly Elise is on hand as John's wife while David Thornton & Laura Harring play the couple's best friends.The movie effectively shows how effed up the American health care system is and appears to promote universal health care. While the system obviously needs fixed, Nobamacare wasn't the way to do it; and, in many ways, made things worse. Nobamacare didn't even accomplish it's supposed goal, which was to grant health care to ALL Americans, at least that's what the 'powers that be' maintained; as of this writing there are still 27 million citizens who are uninsured, and probably far more than that. In reality Nobamacare was basically a Demoncrap Federal power grab.But all that is irrelevant to whether or not the movie is effective, which it is. It's not believable, but it's certainly entertaining. What do I mean by not being believable? The tone is generally realistic, but the characters and dramatics are so amped up the movie is sometimes almost a parody (almost). A good example is how over-the-top uncaring Heche's character is compared to the low-key evil of Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975). The histrionics amongst the hostages is another prime example.Speaking of the hostages, at around the 40-minute mark the movie settles into a confined-location flick. These kinds of stories involve several characters, usually strangers, who are stuck in a particular environment wherein they are forced to get to know each other and interact in order to survive (2007's "The Mist" is a good example). The producers assembled a notable cast for this stock plot (Eddie Griffin, Shawn Hatosy, Heather Wahlquist, Troy Winbush, Ethan Suplee and a few others, including Woods) with Griffin, Hatosy, Winbush and Wahlquist standing out. The latter, incidentally, has a great "Whoa Mama!" scene.The opening scenes seem somewhat contrived, but the movie quickly finds its footing and compellingly embroils you in the events until the close, despite the aforementioned overblown moments. Of course, Washington is excellent as the likable protagonist turned antihero. You can't help but sympathize with him even though what he does is very foolish. Bold, yes, but foolish.The movie run 116 minutes and was shot in Ontario (Solina, Cambridge, Ajax, Hamilton, Oshawa & Toronto) and Montreal with the mountain scenes shot in Alberta (Canmore & Cochrane) and establishing shots in Chicago. WRITER: James Kearns.GRADE: B+

Ugh. The whole movie is just a bunch of propaganda about free, universal health care. The story is moving and the acting not bad. In the end it actually tells you that we should have universal health care. Just liberal Hollywood propaganda. Maybe one of the most liberal films ever made. Conservatives and non-socialists don't watch it will hurt you nerves.(speaking from personal experience). Of course, the kid should not be left to die; private charity is way better than government welfare, something that the film deliberately hides. It is so one-sided and wants to present all people opposing socialist health care as evil. I know this is a film of 2002 but if it was made today it would be a good propaganda weapon for Obama's socialist policies.

This movie has you from beginning to end, well acted by everything, little or big a role. If one film has really taken a bad rap, it would be this one, where to be honest, I found myself questioning why in an enigmatic way like if by the big Q in the film's title. It has everything going for it, and an all too real situation, I guess many people in hardship, will painfully relate to. It's the story of a good man, John Q (Washington) forced to take it upon himself, to go outside the law, to save his son, by any means possible. Washington, in a real human and believable performance, who doesn't overact, can't come up with the mooloh, to get his son on the waiting list for a new donor, where time is very short. When coming up again many brick walls, where to me, this reality was frightening, he ends up taking over the hospital, forcing the doctors to perform an operation, otherwise he'll start taking casualties. I must admit, I really love this film, the different setting on a hostage scenario, I liked very much. Ann Heche, an actress who can really surprise you, is quite a standout here as the hospital's money grabbing governor who's not willing to take John's word, that he'll reimburse her with the money. Let's face it, if everyone did that, there's no guarantee everybody would pay. It was just Heche's lack of compassion to her character at the start, which I must admit, I really didn't like. Woods as a top surgeon siding with Heche, kind of had the same affect, and my opinion of his character, finely played by the great actor, didn't really improve, except for up near the end, with John making one crazy decision, to end one life to save another. I hadn't seen a film, I enjoyed so much as this for a while, where it was richly entertaining, with even a believable ending, though the script wasn't the best, and a little ordinary at times, but this is one of those films you must see, and rule out the bad hype beforehand. The race against time climax was quite gripping for those few minutes, and the last father and son chat, an endearing, moving, and unforgettable scene.

In Chicago, John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) and wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) are struggling financially. Their son Mike collapses at the baseball game. Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche) is the hospital president and Dr. Raymond Turner (James Woods) is their cardiac surgeon. Mike needs a heart transplant but the HMO won't cover the minimum $250k. They can't get any help no matter how hard they try. In desperation, an armed John takes over the emergency room. Police Lt. Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall) negotiates with him.It's an over-the-edge melodrama. The problem is that everything is pushed to the edge. Denzel is crying in the first 15 minutes. I appreciate the message but it's lost in the montage of frustration. Denzel is pushing so hard to be hyper angry that it's difficult to root for him. If Denzel and Kimberly could calm down early on, the audience could embrace them. In fact, everybody seems to be yelling in this movie. It's a hard movie to like.