John Q. (2002) review

Dir. Nick Cassavetes

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★½

If the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson occurred in, say, the 1980s, it probably would’ve been seen as a horrific tragedy. But it occurred in the modern day, when millions of Americans are underinsured, pay way too much for medical coverage, can’t get the adequate treatment they need/deserve, spend exorbitant dollars on medication that keeps them alive, have witnessed loved ones perish because of insufficient funds, or maybe all of the above. Ostensibly everyone has a healthcare horror story they can share. So, quite frankly, the death of Thompson wasn’t something to mourn. Frankly, it’s stunning an event like that doesn’t happen more often, and it’s what occurs when citizens are disenfranchised, commodified, and left to die.

On that note, John Q. is a movie I could’ve believe resonated with Luigi Mangione. Flawed yet relatable, treacly yet invigorating, truly saved by the magnitude of multiple performances, Nick Cassavetes’ movie about a father going to almost unthinkable lengths to save his son is often stirring. For one, it’s memorable because so few movies go where it wants to go. So few movies deal with the incorrigibly caustic and cold-blooded nature of the American healthcare industry.

The story of John Q. Archibald is one that I presume would’ve also resonated with the late, great James Baldwin. After all, it was Baldwin who wisely once said, “the most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”

Denzel Washington’s John Q. is a man with nothing to lose after his son, Mike (Daniel E. Smith), is found to have a heart three times normal size. He needs a heart transplant, and Mike is at the stage where “quality of life” over the course of “months, weeks, maybe even days” needs to be considered. A Chicago factory worker who is now down to part-time hours due to slow orders, John Q. and his wife, Denise (Kimberly Elise), max out their health coverage (only $20,000), sell their car, and try everything they can to raise the $75,000 down payment on the $250,000 operation. It’s still not enough, and the hospital administrator (Anne Heche) and steely cardiologist (James Woods) pervasively inform the couple there is nothing they can do (until the check clears, of course).

John Q’s insurance is capped because his company switched to a lousy HMO plan, which greatly limits his options. Hospitals have few options for relief for “cash patients,” ironically, for they’re the most limited. Eventually, John Q. pulls a gun on the cardiologist and takes hostages in the emergency room, demanding that his son receive the necessary transplant or the trigger will get pulled.

Predictably, police start to surround the building, and a veteran negotiator in Robert Duvall shows up to try and build a relationship with the desperate father. Police Chief Ray Liotta takes the opportunity to play hero for the TV cameras on-scene. Echoes of Dog Day Afternoon start to permeate what was initially looking like an intimate drama about a family rapidly approaching losing their only son. The subtly humorous note about this hostage negotiation is it’s the rare one that doesn’t involve money. Duvall’s character could just feasibly implore the doctors to perform the operation on John Q’s son, and then take the gun-toting father into custody. However, this is American healthcare we’re talking about; John Q. could’ve robbed a bank and still not come up with the necessary funds.

Like in nearly every movie he’s in, Denzel Washington is a fierce presence. In your travels, scan his filmography and find a weak movie. It’s not easy. It’s even tougher to find a weak performance from him. He’s choosy with his roles, and his selectivity makes the slightly underwhelming nature of John Q. more alarming. Here’s a movie that knows no way to communicate its message without bombast. James Kearns’ script is heavy on clunky, convenient dialog, and Aaron Zigman’s score knows few other notes than the ones that reach the raptors. Washington’s command on his character and clear belief in the material makes these shortcomings easier to swallow.

Although John Q.’s hostages are all familiar archetypes — Ethan Suplee’s bumbling security guard, Kevin Connolly’s nurse, who knows the healthcare system is one big fraud, and Eddie Griffin’s wise-ass — they are at least entertaining once they realize they’re not the target of the gunman’s ire.

Thanks to a combination of Washington, Woods, Duvall, and Kimberly Elise, John Q. is elevated in spite of its overbearing approach to the material. Hollywood as an industry, and the people who populate it, catch a lot of deserved flack for being perceived as out-of-touch with the average person. A movie like this shows that those yuppie liberals and the idealism they like to force on everyone aren’t blind to the fact that millions needlessly suffer in the richest country in the world.

Starring: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, James Woods, Kimberly Elise, Anne Heche, Ray Liotta, Eddie Griffin, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Connolly, and Daniel E. Smith. Directed by: Nick Cassavetes.