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Bookmark this pageJohn Q (2002)
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Washington rubbed off his customary sheen of integrity in Training Day, and picked up an Oscar. In this misbegotten blend of populist rabble-rouser and medical tearjerker, he plays blue collar hero John Quincy Archibald. True, John Q - a desperate industrial worker on shortened hours who takes over a hospital ER at gunpoint to secure his sick kid a heart transplant - is the best thing in the film, a beacon of acting sincerity in a sea of thespian bemusement. However, enveloping a significant political issue like healthcare provision in the US in such a psychologically crude, Dog Day Afternoon-style siege drama gives the film an unsavoury exploitative dimension. It also leaves Washington with a credibility problem, not helped by director Nick Cassavetes' standard over-emphasis, guilelessness and poor timing.Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Producer: Mark Burg, Oren Koules
Cast: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, James Woods, Anne Heche, Eddie Griffin, Kimberly Elise, Shawn Hatosy, Ray Liotta, David Thornton, Ethan Suplee full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 116 mins
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