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Healthcare is a serious issue in the United States, especially to those who can't afford it, and 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 told that they don't have enough money in their agreement to cover a big operation. Frustrated and confused, they are given the run around and start to appeal against the decision, but have no luck.

The couple 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 (Anne Heche) and cardiologist (James Woods) that it's too late. It would seem that they can't win whatever they do.

So the film takes a drastic turn with Denise screaming "Do something, John, do something now!" to her husband, becoming a formulaic hostage flick with shades of The Negotiator and Dog Day Afternoon. John is ultimately pissed off and is pushed to the limit that he ends up grabbing a gun and holding 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 first half hour of the film. We get the impression that director Nick Cassavetes wants us 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, egging John on to do something; then some of the patients are released and start commenting to the reporters how much of a nice guy John was to them inside the building. Even Chief Monroe (Ray Liotta) comes onto the scene and 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 in most places, but it does serve its purpose and is pretty dramatic in sone places; Denzel, especially, commands the movie as the down-on-his luck factory worker taking the law into his own hands. Worth a watch.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.