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Movies / Upcoming / 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

US 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

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
08/17/02
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
05/17/09
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

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: eFilmCritic.com | comment 1 Comment
09/24/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/18/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
N/R

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

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
02/01/04
FilmStew.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | comment Comment
01/07/04
Greg Maki
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
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: BlackFilm.com | comment Comment
05/13/03
Wilson Morales
Wilson Morales
BlackFilm.com

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

Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
02/08/03
John R. McEwen
John R. McEwen
Film Quips Online

A coercive script by James Kearns, and some middling direction by Nick Cassavetes, can't rob the movie of an undeniable, headlong crowd-pleasing power as it tackles an issue that touches us all.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
01/21/03
John Patterson
John Patterson
L.A. Weekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An emotional, heart-wrenching story that not only takes viewers on a journey within their own souls, but also opens up their eyes to the way the health care system works.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Heather Wadowski
Heather Wadowski
Film Threat

It may push more buttons than envelopes but John Q is a good old fashioned potboiler that generates ripped from the headlines heat.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Rick Kisonak
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat

"Socially conscious" Denzel Washington thriller wants to tackle tough questions -- but settles for easy answers.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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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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