TNMC
This site’s design is only visible in a graphical browser that supports web standards, but its content is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
John Q (2002)
John Q is a drama that wants to take an uncomfortably close look at our health care system to expose it's failures and shortcomings. What we get instead is an almost laughable story. Instead of exposing a mess of a system, the movie is the the equivalent of shaking a finger at the healthcare system and yelling "Bad!" as if scolding a dog that just relieved itself on the carpet.
In this story, Denzel Washington plays John Q. Archibald, a factory worker down on his luck. His hours have been slashed and money is getting painfully tight. His wife's car is even repossessed. In this fragile state of affairs tragedy strikes. During a little league game, John's son collapses. They rush him to the hospital where it is discovered that the boy's heart is three times normal size. It is very weak and has grown to this size to compensate. The only possible way he can survive is to get a heart transplant.
Unfortunately John's level of health insurance was cut along with his hours. Because of this he isn't covered for a procedure of this magnitude. The hospital administrator coldly informs him that they cannot put his son on the list for a donor heart unless he can front at least a third of the quarter million price tag. John and his wife fight to get every penny they can but its not enough and the hospital is about to discharge their son. Desperate, John gets a gun and takes the emergency room hostage until his son is placed on the list. He doesn't want a handout, he insists they will find a way to pay the bill as long as his son gets a chance at a new heart.
Now from this point on the movie comes apart rapidly. Lapses in logic abound. For instance, the ER seems woefully understaffed. It contains all of two nurses, one intern, a guard and maybe six patients. Plus one surgeon that John drags in with him. It's such a skeleton crew that when the hostage negotiator (Robert Duval) arrives, he asks "Doesn't anyone work in this hospital?" The negotiator seems a competent guy but he's plagued by a spotlight grabbing police chief (Ray Liotta) who busts in and makes a mockery of things. Just look at his uniform encrusted with stars. I counted at least sixteen of them from the shoulders up. Apparently he got them for demeaning and second guessing his men, because that's exactly what he does. Liotta hams it up in a clueless role so badly written you have to wonder why he even took it. As bad as he is though, Anne Heche sets the bar even lower. As the hospital administrator, she makes such a cartoony villain that I kept checking for a black border around her. She wouldn't have looked out of place with a curly mustache to twist the corners of.
The big problem here is a script that doesn't give any actor other than Washington anything decent to work with. It doesn't have much in the way of brains and takes shortcuts in the story to achieve its objectives. The ending to the film is pretty much laid bare during the opening credits. How about that for a tension killer?
About the only reason this film is watchable is the supremely talented Washington. He has the only well written character and he runs with it. He gives a strong performance that can almost mask some of the plot's larger holes. He has great chemistry with the boy playing his son and delivers several riveting scenes. Movies like this make me wonder why Washington doesn't seem to seek out more challenging material. He can make gems out of crap so just imagine what he could do with really good material.
While not a good movie, this is the sort of film I have trouble working up animosity towards. It's worst offense is wasting a couple hours of my life. It has it's heart in the right place, it just forgot where it left it's brains.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Forums