(rated PG-13, 118 mins.)
Right from the get-go we bond to John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington), a factory worker, with a grocery clerk wife (Kimberly Elise), whose old station wagon has been repossessed. Yet, they’re happy and in love until a curve ball strikes at their son’s little league game when he (Daniel Smith) collapses from heart complications. Hospital director (Anne Heche) and cardio-head (James Wood) systematically inform John Q. that his insurance will not cover putting John Q’s son on a donor list for a new heart. The only other option: His son dies. After exhausting every possible option and hawking even his wife’s diamond ring, John Q. takes the Jerry Springer, chair-bashing route to gain national attention by holding hostages in an emergency room. Suddenly people are listening including Ray Liotta as the arrogant but fabulous police chief and Robert Duvall in a dead-on performance as the hostage negotiator. Washington delivers an exhausting performance that is such a tear-jerker we barely have time to cry from pure anger and rallying parental love. The movie recognizes our health care system that caters not to the hard working middle class but to the welfare recipients who already sucks the life out of taxpayers like John Q. If Russell Crowe tackled the tobacco industry in “The Insider”, this is the “Erin Brokovich” of health care holes and a triumphant role for Washington.
Right from the get-go we bond to John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington), a factory worker, with a grocery clerk wife (Kimberly Elise), whose old station wagon has been repossessed. Yet, they’re happy and in love until a curve ball strikes at their son’s little league game when he (Daniel Smith) collapses from heart complications. Hospital director (Anne Heche) and cardio-head (James Wood) systematically inform John Q. that his insurance will not cover putting John Q’s son on a donor list for a new heart. The only other option: His son dies. After exhausting every possible option and hawking even his wife’s diamond ring, John Q. takes the Jerry Springer, chair-bashing route to gain national attention by holding hostages in an emergency room. Suddenly people are listening including Ray Liotta as the arrogant but fabulous police chief and Robert Duvall in a dead-on performance as the hostage negotiator. Washington delivers an exhausting performance that is such a tear-jerker we barely have time to cry from pure anger and rallying parental love. The movie recognizes our health care system that caters not to the hard working middle class but to the welfare recipients who already sucks the life out of taxpayers like John Q. If Russell Crowe tackled the tobacco industry in “The Insider”, this is the “Erin Brokovich” of health care holes and a triumphant role for Washington.