Posted: 02/19/2002

John Q

(2002)

by C.E. Pelc

John Q vs. the HMOs

As the current number one movie in the United States, John Q is riveting, emotional and inspiring. By tackling one of the most important and controversial topics affecting millions of Americans daily — health care and HMOs — the movie takes a look at possibly the worst possible outcome of the way things now are. And while the movie does this in a way that will most definitely open your eyes to this problem, in some cases John Q takes on the role of preacher rather than teacher, leaving a bit of a bad taste in your mouth.

Denzel Washington stars as John Q. Archibald, a father whose young son Mike (wonderfully played by Daniel E. Smith) is in sudden need of a heart transplant, or else he will die within a few days. The problem is that John’s employer has recently switched to an HMO and, due to his lack of hours at the plant, John is only eligible for a certain amount of coverage, which will not pay for his son’s transplant. A good deal of the movie is centered around John and his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise), who is extremely distraught and keeps pressuring John to do something about all this. John tries pretty much everything he can, but continues to be given the runaround. Finally, the day comes when an hysterical Denise calls John to tell him the hospital is going to release Mike and that John has to do something… anything… to keep that from happening or their son will die.

This, as I’m sure you can tell, is the point of no return for John Q. Archibald as he decides to take Mike’s doctor, Dr. Turner (James Woods), and the entire emergency room hostage until the hospital’s director Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche) puts Mike’s name on the donor list for a transplant. During this time are some really great scenes, such as with a girlfriend finally letting loose on her abusive boyfriend.

Also during these scenes is what I consider really the only downfall of the movie, which is when some of the ER staff and patients taken hostage by John go after Dr. Turner regarding health care and HMOs. While the information they gave was interesting — especially the part about doctors getting bonuses for not administering expensive tests to patients — I couldn’t help but feel this entire section was terribly staged. I was almost waiting for the little PBS station logo to appear in the lower righthand corner of the screen. When movies are dealing with subjects such as these, educating the audience is necessary but force-feeding it is not.

Once Health Care 101 is over, the movie thankfully continues in the same way it did as the hostage negotiator and the Chicago PD have to decide whether to meet John’s demands, and John has to come to terms with the reality that his boy might die and that no one else really cares about his problems. In order not to give away the entire ending, I will say the movie finishes on both an uplifting and sad note, but in order to keep some sense of realism this was necessary.

All in all, despite the few minutes that could have been done much better, John Q offers entertainment and enlightenment in one, nicely sewn-up package. On an emotional level, it is a great movie about a father and the sacrifices he will make for his son. And on a social level, John Q succeeds in making a powerful comment on a subject that demands a lot more attention than it has been given.

C.E. Pelc is a freelance writer from Sacramento, California, and is editor of Film Monthly’s sister publication, fm sound.

Got a problem? E-mail us at filmmonthly@gmail.com