Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002

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Somewhere in the vast annals of Usenet, there's a fellow who took Issue with the John Q storyline (via the trailers before its release), saying something to the effect that "it could never happen in this country, because there are measures in place that insure that everybody who needs such urgent care, gets it". I hope that fellow never has cause to visit the real world of medicine, hospitalization, and HMO's, circa the 21st century. THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) John Q. (Denzel Washington) is a representative of the everyday public man: hard-working, a good friend, a good husband to his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise), and a good father to his son Mike (Daniel E. Smith). But in this day and age, those things aren't enough: politicians do their utmost to take a hard-working man's job away, his friends and family can't pay the bills, and John can't keep his son from suffering from heart failure. And because of the unhealthy state of medical insurance in this country, John can't even count on his employer to cover the staggering cost of a heart transplant for his only son. And Hippocratic Oath aside, neither cardiac surgeon Dr. Turner (James Woods) nor hospital administrator Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche) seem able or willing to do much for Mike, either. Backed up against the wall, given few options, John has to do the unthinkable, to give his son a fighting chance for survival. THE UPSHOT By now, you've surely heard all the mutterings about how John Q is a rehash of Al Pacino's Dog Day Afternoon - as if that admittedly brilliant film was the do-all/end-all of "hostage" flicks. I won't bore you by making such a comparison. Instead, I'll compare it to a more recent, less brilliant, but similarly discomfiting in its execution, movie: The Negotiator, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Like The Negotiator, John Q had a top-notch central actor, good supporters, and a Just Cause for the audience to root for. But it was exactly that Just Cause, and its inevitable conclusion, that made both movies a bit hard to swallow when all was said and done. It doesn't take a lot of insight to figure out that Justice Will Prevail in both cases; at least, Justice, as in "the good guys win". So what remains to be asked is, in going from point A to point B, did John Q get there in style? For the most part, yes. Julia Roberts got it right when she implied that Denzel Washington is completely worthy of his current Oscar® nomination - though I'd go her one better and say that this performance, and not his Training Day role, was more worthy of the nod. I found myself straining to not be pulled into tears through John's agony over his hopeless situation. Conversely, as much as I wanted to be mad about Denise's admonishment to John to "just do something!", I could sympathize with the sorrow and worry her character was going through for her son; in this, Kimberly Elise was quite good as Mike's mother. And speaking of Mike, I enjoyed young Daniel E. Smith, in his first feature film. The dialogue he was given to say was at times a bit farfetched, but all in all, Washington, Elise, and Smith painted a believable family portrait. I have a confession to make: I rarely, if ever, use the "b" word; but I found myself forgetting what Anne Heche's character's name was, and constantly referring to her as Bitch, in my notes. There aren't enough Hail Mary's to make up for the disgust I felt for her character; part of which, I also confess, stems from my distaste for the actor. None of my previous Issues with James Woods, however, interfered with my acceptance of him here. He kept his tendency toward over-the-top performances reined in nicely in John Q. But if I had my druthers, I'd ditch Ray Liotta's silly Police Chief, rethink having poor Robert Duvall revise his shadow character from Falling Down, and in fact, pare down many of the additional excess characters which were far too numerous, and too reminiscent of other hostage movies' excess characters, to detail here. It's hard to put my finger on exactly the symptoms, but John Q could've been cured, I think, by a more skillful script surgeon. There is one area, however, in which I can find no fault with this movie... THE "BLACK FACTOR"    [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith] Actually, there was no "Black Factor" visibly discernible in John Q. Three guesses as to why that notion made me cheer...and your first two guesses are wrong. BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE There was something not quite fulfilling about John Q; it's as if one sat down for a meal, and got a quick snack instead. As powerful as Washington's performance was, as solid as Elise, Smith, Woods and a few others were, and as true-to-life as the story of outrageous holes in medical insurance in this country was, I still found this movie to be lacking somehow, while at the same time, overloaded with characters but light on backstory. Still, John Q is worth at least one trip to the theater - or later, to the video store - to catch. JOHN Q:   back to top And that's the way I see it. Rose "Bams" Cooper 3BlackChicks Review™ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com    ICQ: 7760005 http://www.3blackchicks.com/