Chicago auto worker John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) is in dire straits: his wife’s car has been repossessed, his hours at the plant have been cut back, and his employer has recently shifted its health insurance plan to a cheaper, less comprehensive HMO. When his young son is diagnosed with a fatal heart condition, hospital administrators look at John’s situation and refuse to put the young boy on a transplant list. With time running out, John takes control of the hospital’s emergency room, refusing to allow anyone in or out until his son’s name is added to the list.

CRITIQUE

John Q. (get it?) is the sort of heavy-handed, overwrought, button-pushing movie that gives heavy-handed, overwrought, button-pushing movies a bad name. Alternately silly, mawkish, laughable, and groan-inducing, it’s one of the dumbest, most one-sided handlings of an important, complex issue Hollywood has ever foisted on the world.

What you get here is a group of fine actors handcuffed by a horrible, horrible script. Writer James Kearns apparently dropped out of Screenwriting 101 halfway through the semester, as it’s obvious he didn’t get to the point where the class learned how not to telegraph every payoff in the first ten minutes.

The opening credits play out over a sequence in which a woman who is never identified is involved in a fatal car accident. Hmm, a movie about a kid who needs a heart transplant opens with a car crash...nope, can’t see where that’s going. A short time later we hear Washington’s sitcom-cute son (played by Daniel E. Smith) tell his father not to use the word “goodbye,” preferring instead to hear “see you later.” As soon as I heard that I knew what the final words between father and son would be (and I was right).

Every single character in this movie--every single one--is a stereotype. In addition to The Heroic Father and The Cute Kid, you get The Loving Wife (a wasted Kimberly Elise), The Evil Bitch (a pre-crazy Anne Heche), The Out-of-Touch Professional (a thoroughly wasted James Woods), The Good Cop (a thoroughly wasted Robert Duvall), and The Bad Cop (Ray Liotta). That’s more than enough lazy characterizations for one movie, but Kearns was apparently on a quest to see just how many stereotypes he could cram into one script.

All of the people held captive by Washington in the emergency room are straight off the Stock Characterizations shelf. There’s The Fat Security Guard (Ethan Suplee), The Nurse Working Her First Day (Dina Waters), The Comic Relief Soul Brother (Eddie Griffin), The Young Hispanic Mother Who Speaks No English (Martha Chaves), The Woman About to Go into Labor (Troy Beyer), The Henpecked Husband (Troy Winbush), The Tough-Talking Guido (Shawn Hatosy), and The Victimized Girlfriend (Heather Wahlquist). Hell, all they needed was The Sweaty Guy with a Bomb in His Briefcase--and maybe Charo--and they could have shot another Airport flick concurrently.

Kearns and director Nick Cassavetes (whose daughter was diagnosed a heart condition, making him the ideal person not to direct this movie) don’t use these various characters to further the debate on health care reform, primarily because the movie doesn’t debate the issue at all. Everything here is black and white (both literally and figuratively), with the line clearly drawn between those who care and those who don’t. Some members of the hospital staff care, some don’t. One cop cares, one doesn’t. Some of the people held hostage in the emergency room (who are on hand simply to add enough stupid subplots to pad the script out to feature length) care, some don’t.

Furthermore, the movie wants us to think that everyone who doesn’t care is dead wrong. The bad guys here don’t do what they do because of the way the system works, they do it because they’re greedy and evil. Never mind that the number of people who need transplants is far greater than the number of available organs, or that many people on the recipient lists have been waiting years for matches, or that transplant procedures are incredibly costly, incredibly complex and incredibly risky--these people who refuse to jump up and help John Q. are simply a bunch of mean grouches who don’t give a damn about this nice man and his poor little son.

And never mind that John Q. terrorizes and threatens people, or that his decision to effectively shut down operations at a hospital serving a city of several million people--thereby endangering the lives of many, many patients--this guy is still a hero. That’s the argument being made by the filmmakers, and they expect us to swallow it without question. Sorry, but I’m not buying it. No way, no chance, no how.

THE VIDEO

The 1.85:1/1080p transfer--encoded with AVC onto a 50GB disc--offers a very good approximation of the movie’s visual scheme. Exteriors have a slightly soft look, with colors that are oversaturated to a modest degree.

Interiors, on the other hand, are slightly desaturated and a bit cold, with a pumped-up grain structure intended to give the story a gritty feel. There’s some edge enhancement on display, but it’s not as severe as it was on the DVD.

THE AUDIO

The movie has a surprisingly lively sound mix, and the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio showcases both its strengths and weaknesses. There’s an airy, atmospheric quality to the mix, expertly capturing the characteristics of the various locales. On the downside, the overbearing score (it’s awful) is mixed at too high a level, and dialogue sometimes gets buried in the mix.

Optional English and German Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are also included, as is a Spanish 2.0 track. Subtitles in English, German, and Spanish are available.

THE EXTRAS

The commentary by director Nick Cassavetes, writer James Kearns, producer Mark Burg, and cinematographer Rogier Stoffers is an okay track, heavier on technical and production info that it is background on the project or factual context.  

Inside Story, which originally appeared on the old DVD as an Infinifilm branching option, is a “Focus Point” feature that provides a series of branching featurettes focusing on the quandaries of modern health care.

Fact Track is a pop-up factoid track that provides production info as the movie plays. (Like the Inside Story material, this has also been repurposed from the Infinifilm content.)

Although the packaging indicates that all of the following video-based extras are presented in standard definition, it’s actually a mix of standard and high-def:

Fighting for Care (35 minutes, SD) offers a look at the current (or current seven years ago) state of the organ/donor system in the U.S. This piece is interesting, informative, honest, and balanced--you know, everything the movie isn’t.

Behind the Scenes of John Q (16 minutes, SD) is your typical making-of featurette, heavier on promotion than depth.

Six deleted scenes (21 minutes total, HD) are also included. They’re essentially more of the same, although one does provide a bit of much-needed information regarding how HMOs operate. Cassavetes provides optional commentary for these scenes.

Closing out the extras is the movie’s theatrical trailer (also presented in HD).

FINAL THOUGHT

Not even the combined talents of a group of great actors can save this risible mess of a movie, or make it watchable.