John Q (2002)

A down-on-his luck father, whose insurance won't cover his son's heart transplant, takes the hospital's emergency room hostage until the doctors agree to perform the operation.

Director:

Nick Cassavetes

Writer:

James Kearns

Stars:

Gabriela Oltean, Denzel Washington, Kimberly Elise

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gabriela Oltean	...	Beautiful BMW Driver
Denzel Washington	...	John Quincy Archibald
Kimberly Elise	...	Denise Archibald
Ron Annabelle	...	Tow Truck Driver
Daniel E. Smith	...	Michael 'Mike' Archibald
David Thornton	...	Jimmy Palumbo
Barry G. King	...	Employee Manager
Laura Harring	...	Gina Palumbo (as Laura Elena Harring)
Kevin Connolly	...	Steve Maguire
Larissa Laskin	...	Dr. Ellen Klein
Vanessa Branch	...	Registered Nurse
Stephanie Moore	...	Admitting Nurse
James Finnerty	...	Nurse Reggie
Anne Heche	...	Rebecca Payne
James Woods	...	Dr. Raymond Turner

Storyline

John Quincy Archibald's son Michael collapses while playing baseball as a result of heart failure. John rushes Michael to a hospital emergency room where he is informed that Michael's only hope is a transplant. Unfortunately, John's insurance won't cover his son's transplant. Out of options, John Q. takes the emergency room staff and patients hostage until hospital doctors agree to do the transplant.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | heart | doctor | hostage | insurance | 

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Taglines:

Give a father no options and you leave him no choice.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and intense thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] (French) New Line [us] Story, cast, Filmmakers, gallery and downloads

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

15 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Q.

Filming Locations:

Ajax, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$36,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$419,535 (Japan) (22 November 2002)

Gross:

$2,606,250 (Japan) (10 January 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Burg/Koules Productions, Evolution Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite its thrilling progression, the cast actually did laugh at the scene when the eccentric couple break up in the hospital.

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Goofs

When Dr. Turner passes through the doors into the glass corridor where John takes him hostage, you can see the feet of crew members behind the door below the white backdrop.

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Quotes

John Q. Archibald: My son is dying, and I'm broke. If I don't qualify for Medicare, WHO THE HELL DOES?

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Connections

Features Politically Incorrect (1993)

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Soundtracks

"Ave Maria"
Written and arranged by Aaron Zigman
Performed by Ana Maria Martinez

User Reviews

Deep Acting of Washington! Great!

In this movie, with a great acting of Denzel Washington as John Q. I felt the deep problems of health in the USA. My cousin lives in the United States (i don't), and she told me a few complaints about this problem; in the movie i finally understood about that. I don't understand how, the most powerful country in the world does have such bad health services to it's people?. For the benefit of the Americans, i hope that they change this system soon. Denzel puts his hearth on this movie, playing a normal guy with financial problems and a hard work; the way that Denzel shows his love to his son is remarkable and demonstrates why he is one of the actual best actors in Hollywood. If you have seen Searching for David's Hearth (2004), this is as the other side of the story.

About the Movie: Denzel Washington plays John Quincy Archibald (John Q.) a husband and father with some financial problems that works almost 20 hours a day on a factory but who can't afford his expenses. John is trying to get a second job in order to earn an extra money. In the middle of this John's son Mike (Daniel E. Smith) is found to have a disease caused by a bigger than normal heart, and the doctors told him that he will die soon if they don't make a heart transplant. Here everything is hard but it gets really harder when John goes to the insurance company and get the notice that his insurance suddenly don't cover this type of procedures. John and his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) start to make everything possible to collect the money (a lot of money) needed just to get his son on the donor's list, with their son dying an not much money, John desperate and takes the hospital's emergency room staff and patients hostage, demanding for to his son to be put on that list and that doctors do the transplant. The story evolves emotionally deep trough all this; in a remarkable script.

About the Cast: Denzel Washington put his soul onto this role, being by far the best of all!!, Kimberly Elise does good too, but a little exaggerated sometimes, Daniel Smith as Mike is pretty poor in his acting, he didn't had to do that much but this kid (sorry) still isn't a good actor; he has years to perfect his performance. James Woods acting as Dr. Raymond Turner, as always is very good and professional, also Anne Hache as Rebbeca Payne is great and show a coldness that ripped me out. Robert Duvall acting is good but his character could have been deployed even more, for the good of the film. Ray Liotta does good; Eddie Griffin is good too as one of the characters of the emergency room (Wow, this was a great cast!)

8/10! Excellent for Denzel Washington performance!