Product Details

• Actors: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Gabriela Oltean, Kimberly Elise, Ron Annabelle
• Directors: Nick Cassavetes
• Writers: James Kearns
• Producers: Avram 'Butch' Kaplan, Dale De La Torre, Hillary Sherman, Howard Burkons, James Kearns
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: ALL
• Run Time: 116 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (185 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000068QKV
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,610 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "John Q" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's impossible to walk away from John Q. without thinking about the film that could have been. The pathetic state of health care in the U.S. and the desperate behavior it engenders is not only worthy but edgy material; no doubt director Nick Cassavetes (She's So Lovely) and Denzel Washington (as well as Robert Duvall, Ray Liotta, James Woods, and Anne Heche) were drawn to the provocative pitch. The only snag is that John Q. has about as much edge as an after-school special. Washington plays John Quincy Archibald, a hard-working factory worker whose house stands to be repossessed and whose lovely wife (Kimberly Elise) is at her wits' end. When his extremely cute son collapses while rounding the bases in a Little League game, things go from bad to worse. John Q. takes a downtown Chicago emergency room hostage when he learns that the heart transplant his son needs won't be performed because his health care doesn't cover it. The action-drama that ensues--replete with one-liners, stilted debate, inept snipers, and multiple references to O.J. Simpson's white Bronco--is so littered with clichés that the issues, timely ones, get lost in a crescendo of melodrama. --Fionn Meade

From The New Yorker

When his young son needs a heart transplant and his insurance won't cover the operation, a Chicago machinist (Denzel Washington) takes a prominent surgeon (James Woods) and a number of patients hostage, threatening to kill his captives if his son doesn't get a new ticker. This tearjerker, written by James Kearns and directed by Nick Cassavetes, is a trashy, opportunistic work that appears to have been intentionally pitched low in order to rouse an audience that the filmmakers view as politically somnolent. They may have calculated correctly: the movie is badly written, directed, and acted, yet the people in the theatre, fed up with the health-care system, seem alive to the picture and shout back at the screen. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Fighting for Care", January 8, 2006

By 

Jenny J.J.I. "A New Yorker" (That Lives in Carolinas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: John Q. (Infinifilm Edition) (DVD)

"John Q" is good for some thought-provoking ideas and questions concerning the ever-growing problems with our nation's health care policies, as well as some hard-hitting performances from its arsenal of talented actors. For these reasons, the movie qualifies as an average crowd pleaser, though it's predictability, as well as some cloyed storytelling in its second half, keep it from being the powerful drama it aspires to be.

Washington gives an outstanding performance, but is dragged by Elise's crying.... This is not one of those movies that are only worth watching on video, it's a great movie that I recommend to everyone who's mature enough to watch a boy dying right in front of his parents, at 10. Think about that. One of Washington's best line in this film is," I will not bury my son, my son is going to bury me!" Denzel Washington is amazing as always, and I've seen most of his films, I've never once been disappointed. He can play anything, and his role as a caring father in this film was enough to make me want to rate this three stars alone. But once you throw in solid dialogue, a great plot and other supporting actors, you have yourself one truly great movie.

I was disappointed by one aspect of this movie: the fact that it wasn't released earlier that year, because Washington surely would've received an Oscar nomination for this instead of "Training Day". It's hard to not like this movie and impossible to not feel for the characters. I'll see this movie again and I hope that by reading this review you'll see it too.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a Let Down after Washington's "Training Day", August 6, 2002

By 

carol irvin "carol irvin" (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John Q. (Infinifilm Edition) (DVD)

Unfortunately, after playing an absolutely brilliant, richly layered bad guy in "Training Day", Washington has returned to soap opera melodrama where he is but one step away from sainthood. I figured some hack talked him into doing this film until I saw the director was Nick Cassevetes who made the wonderful "She's So Lovely." It's not that the subject isn't worthy of a film. The denial of health care to the average American is a very film worthy topic but maybe they needed to talk the likes of David Mamet into writing such a work. They sure didn't get such a script here. Washington takes an emergency room hostage in order to get his son the medical care he needs to save his life. The situation is then milked for every last bit of sentimentality possible and ends up a mawkish, over the top mess. Robert Duvall is wasted as a stereotypical cop negotiating a hostage situation. James Wood and Ann Heche are wasted as cardboard cutouts of a doctor (Woods) and medical administrator (Heche). I'd recommend instead getting your hands on a copy of George C. Scott in "The Hospital" from the 1970s if you want to see the same topic dealt with in dramatic yet also black comedy brilliance.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good acting/poor writing, July 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: John Q. (Infinifilm Edition) (DVD)

Denzel Washington does a great job, Daniel E Smith plays his part very well. They are what pulls the movie UP to 3 stars.

The writer of this movie over-dramatizes problems with the healthcare industry in the US. The hospital director is this tough woman who couldn't care less about patients. Doctors and rich people are made out to be evil. Then you throw in the young police chief who tries to be smarter than the older cop.

I felt like someone took what could have been a good story and made sure to add in as many politically correct, socialist storylines as possible. Where's Senator McCarthy when we need him?