Critique: Film> Reviews.

Healthcare is a serious issue in the United States, especially to those that can't afford it. John Q (Washington) is the working-class everyman, who desperately need a heart transplant for his dying son Mike (Daniel E. Smith). He and his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) have insurance, but are soon told that they don't have enough money in the agreement to cover the operation. Frustrated and confused, they are given the run around and start to appeal against the decision, but have no luck. They even sell their car, engagement rings and some of their household furniture, and attempt to raise money at the local church. They eventually make enough for a deposit on the surgery, but are then told by the cold-hearted hospital administrator Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche) and cardiologist (James Woods) that it's too late. Mike is about to be discharged.

From the moment that John's wife screams "Do something, John, do something now!" the film turns into a formulaic hostage flick, with shades of The Negotiator and Dog Day Afternoon. John is ultimately pissed and grabs a gun and holds the hospital staff and a few of the patients hostage, demanding that his son be put at the top of the recipient list.

Not that I have a problem with hostage flicks; it's just that John Q starts to get incredibly cheesy when it transcends into familiar territory, and it's a sharp contrast to the important theme. You get the impression from the first half hour of the film that director Nick Cassavetes wants you to take his message about healthcare very seriously. We do. But with all the ridiculousness that follows, we can't help but laugh: People gather outside of the hospital and begin cheering in front of the television cameras. Some of the hospital patients are released and start commenting to the reporters how much of a nice guy John was to them. Even Chief Monroe (Ray Liotta) starts lapping up the huge spectacle by dishing out high fives.

The film's method of activism in getting what you want is this: Pull a gun and hold a bunch of people hostage, then the authorities will start listening. John is a desperate man and you can sympathise with his position and understand his course of actions, but is he really a hero, like the film wants you to think, or just a terrorist? A Bit of both, I'd say, which also makes the premise quite worrying when you do think about it.

I guess that's the point of John Q -- it's there to make you think. Give the film some credit: It may be rather over-the-top and comical and feel like a trashy Reality-TV show, but it does serve its purpose and is really quite dramatic in places. Denzel, especially, commands the movie as the down-on-his luck factory worker taking the law into his own hands.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.