John Q
Encyclopedia
John Q is a 2002
2002 in film
The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed by Nick Cassavetes starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

 as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...

 because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the recipient's list.

The film also stars Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

, Anne Heche
Anne Heche
Anne Celeste Heche is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer,...

, James Woods
James Woods
James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...

, Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...

 and Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin
Edward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...

, among others. The film was shot in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 (ballpark scenes), and Canmore
Canmore, Alberta
Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of the City of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rockies. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Country to the west and south and the Municipal District of...

, Alberta, although the story takes place in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

Plot

As the film opens a young woman is recklessly driving a white BMW down a mountain highway. A slow-moving truck impedes her progress, and as she attempts to pass it on a blind curve a second truck looms in the oncoming lane and clips the woman's rear fender. The woman spins and comes to a stop in front of the first truck which broadsides her car and she dies (this whole ordeal is interspersed throughout the movie).

John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

) is with his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise
Kimberly Elise
Kimberly Elise is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role in the films Set It Off, Beloved, John Q, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and For Colored Girls...

) at his son's baseball game. As his son, Michael (Daniel E. Smith), runs around the bases and heads to second he grabs his chest and collapses. After a series of tests at the hospital John is informed by Dr. Raymond Turner (James Woods
James Woods
James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...

) and Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche
Anne Heche
Anne Celeste Heche is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer,...

), a hospital administrator, that Michael has an enlarged heart and will need a transplant
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...

. However because the company he works for dropped John from full-time (40+ hours) to part-time (20 hours), his health insurance
Health insurance
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health care expenses among a targeted group, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is...

 has been changed from a PPO
Preferred provider organization
In health insurance in the United States, a preferred provider organization is a managed care organization of medical doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers who have covenanted with an insurer or a third-party administrator to provide health care at reduced...

 to an HMO
Health maintenance organization
A health maintenance organization is an organization that provides managed care for health insurance contracts in the United States as a liaison with health care providers...

, and the new policy does not cover the surgery, leaving them to raise 30% ($75,000) of the $250,000 in order to get their son's name on the list of likely recipients of an available heart. The family tries to raise the money by selling some of their possessions and helping out their neighbors, but are only able to raise about a third of the necessary payment. Eventually the hospital gets tired of waiting for payments and decides to release Michael. John's wife Denise tells him to do something about the situation after the hospital tells her about Michael's release. Unwilling to let his only child die, John decides it's time to take drastic measures. John walks into the hospital emergency room with a handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....

 and begins a hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...

 situation. He gathers the hostages and sets his demands: his son's name on the recipient list as soon as possible. The hostage negotiator, Lt. Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

), stands down to let John cool off.

Meanwhile, John and the 11 hostages communicate and learn more about each other. They begin to understand John's situation and support him a little as he ensures each of them receive the treatment they came to the emergency room for. One of them, Miriam (Troy Beyer
Troy Beyer
Troy Yvette Beyer is an American film director, screenwriter and actress.-Life and career:Born in New York City to an African American mother and a Jewish father, Beyer began her acting career with a role on the children’s program Sesame Street when she was just four years old...

), is pregnant, and her husband Steve (Troy Winbush
Troy Winbush
-Life and career:Winbush was born in Manhattan, New York. He is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Denny on The Cosby Show, appearing on the series from 1989 to 1991. He also made guest appearances in number of other notable television series including, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, Boston...

) is hoping that their first kid is healthy. A young hostage, Julie (Heather Wahlquist
Heather Wahlquist
Heather Wahlquist is an American film and television actress. She is married to director/writer Nick Cassavetes and has appeared in several of his films....

), has a broken arm, and she and her boyfriend Mitch (Shawn Hatosy
Shawn Hatosy
Shawn Wayne Hatosy is an actor with over 40 film and television credits to his name.-Personal life:Hatosy was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Carol , a loan officer, and Wayne Hatosy, a graphic designer and event planning director...

) claim that a car crash caused it, but due to some holes in their story (and the fact that Mitch's only injuries are scratches on his arm) John and another hostage, Lester (Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin
Edward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...

), are able to conclude that the two are lying and that Mitch had actually beat Julie up.

After a while John agrees to release some hostages (one is Miriam who is about to give birth and needs to go to the maternity ward) in return for his son's name being on the list an hour afterward. Miriam requests that Steve leave with her, but Steve only wishes for his wife and soon-to-be born child to go to safety. Mitch then says that he should go, and the two have an argument about who will leave. During the argument Mitch insults Steve and he, infuriated, starts to shove Mitch around. John intervenes, and Mitch, taking John by surprise, maces him and attempts to disarm John. John fights back and eventually loses his gun during the fight. Julie is ordered by Mitch to recover the gun, but instead, fed up with Mitch's abuse, maces him. When Mitch angrily insults Julie for this, she retaliates by assaulting him (to everyone surprise and amusement) and then breaking up with him on the spot. John then takes some handcuffs from the security guard, Max (Ethan Suplee
Ethan Suplee
Ethan Suplee is an American film and television actor best known for his roles as Seth Ryan in American History X, Louie Lastik in Remember the Titans, Frankie in Boy Meets World, Randy Hickey in My Name Is Earl, Thumper in The Butterfly Effect, Dewey in Unstoppable, and his roles in Kevin Smith...

), and has Mitch handcuffed to a radiator. Then he releases Steve, Miriam and a hostage named Rosa (Martha Chaves) with her baby.

The Chicago Chief of Police, Gus Monroe (Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...

), gives a SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...

 unit permission to insert a sniper into the building via an air shaft. John speaks with his wife and son telling them that the situation will be alright, unaware that a hidden camera in the hospital has been hacked by a news crew and that his emotional conversation is being broadcast live on national television. John realizes the phone call is being broadcast and sees the sniper about to shoot him. John is shot but ends up receiving only a minor wound.

After taking the shot, the sniper's leg falls through the ceiling tiles and the outraged John pulls him out of the air shaft and beats him up. John's gunshot wound is treated by the emergency room staff and, using the bound SWAT policeman as a human shield, he steps outside to the sight of dozens of policemen pointing weapons at him as well as a large crowd gathered to support his cause. John demands that his son be brought to the emergency room, saying "I am not going to bury my son; my son is going to bury me!". The police agree to his demand in exchange for the SWAT sniper
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....

.

Once his son arrives, John reveals to the hostages his intention to commit suicide so his heart can be used to save his son. He persuades Dr. Turner to perform the operation, and two of his hostages bear witness to a will stating his last request. John goes to say his last good-byes to Michael and goes to the operating room where he reveals to the doctor and emergency room personnel that his gun was unloaded the entire time he held them hostage. John loads a single bullet into the gun and pulls the trigger but the safety is on. As he holds the gun to his own head a second time and prepares to end his life, his wife is told about a woman killed in a car crash, the one from the opening scene, who happens to have the same blood type as Michael, and has been flown to the hospital for organ recovery. She runs to the emergency room and stops John from shooting himself, and John allows the hostages to go free. Michael is given the life-saving operation and, after watching the procedure with Denise, John is taken into police custody. He is later acquitted of charges of attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...

 and armed criminal action but is found guilty of kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

. It is never revealed what his sentence for the crime will be but his lawyer is overheard saying that no judge will give him "more than five (years)" and that she will try and get it dropped to two.

In the final scene of the movie, John enters a police car to be taken away. As he is driven away, John's son runs through the crowd of people who have gathered at John's trial and goes onto the road. The police car drives by, and his son says "dad, thank you", and the son adopts poses that were done in earlier scenes in the movie.

Cast

  • Denzel Washington
    Denzel Washington
    Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

     as John Quincy Archibald
  • Kimberly Elise
    Kimberly Elise
    Kimberly Elise is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role in the films Set It Off, Beloved, John Q, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and For Colored Girls...

     as Denise Archibald
  • Daniel E. Smith as Michael 'Mike' Archibald
  • James Woods
    James Woods
    James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...

     as Dr. Raymond Turner
  • Anne Heche
    Anne Heche
    Anne Celeste Heche is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer,...

     as Rebecca Payne
  • Robert Duvall
    Robert Duvall
    Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

     as Lt. Frank Grimes
  • Ray Liotta
    Ray Liotta
    [File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...

     as Chief Gus Monroe
  • Shawn Hatosy
    Shawn Hatosy
    Shawn Wayne Hatosy is an actor with over 40 film and television credits to his name.-Personal life:Hatosy was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Carol , a loan officer, and Wayne Hatosy, a graphic designer and event planning director...

     as Mitch Quigley
  • Heather Wahlquist
    Heather Wahlquist
    Heather Wahlquist is an American film and television actress. She is married to director/writer Nick Cassavetes and has appeared in several of his films....

     as Julie Bird
  • Troy Beyer
    Troy Beyer
    Troy Yvette Beyer is an American film director, screenwriter and actress.-Life and career:Born in New York City to an African American mother and a Jewish father, Beyer began her acting career with a role on the children’s program Sesame Street when she was just four years old...

     as Miriam Smith
  • Kevin Connolly as Steve Maguire
  • Troy Winbush
    Troy Winbush
    -Life and career:Winbush was born in Manhattan, New York. He is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Denny on The Cosby Show, appearing on the series from 1989 to 1991. He also made guest appearances in number of other notable television series including, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, Boston...

     as Steve Smith
  • Eddie Griffin
    Eddie Griffin
    Edward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...

     as Lester Matthews
  • Martha Chaves as Rosa Gonzales
  • Larissa Laskin
    Larissa Laskin
    Larissa Laskin is an American television actress whose credits include the A&E original film, The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery .-External links:...

     as Dr. Ellen Klein
  • Ethan Suplee
    Ethan Suplee
    Ethan Suplee is an American film and television actor best known for his roles as Seth Ryan in American History X, Louie Lastik in Remember the Titans, Frankie in Boy Meets World, Randy Hickey in My Name Is Earl, Thumper in The Butterfly Effect, Dewey in Unstoppable, and his roles in Kevin Smith...

     as Guard Max Conlin
  • Obba Babatundé
    Obba Babatunde
    Obba Babatundé is an American actor of stage and screen, known for his Emmy-nominated performance in the television movie Miss Evers' Boys, a NAACP Image Award-nominated performance in the TV movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, and a Tony Award-nominated role for his performance as C.C...

     as Sgt. Moody
  • David Thornton
    David Thornton (actor)
    David Thornton is an American actor. He is the husband of Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, whom he married in 1991. Their son, Declyn Wallace Thornton Lauper, was born on November 19, 1997.- Filmography :...

     as Jimmy Palumbo
  • Laura Harring
    Laura Harring
    Laura Harring is a Mexican-American actress and former Miss USA . She is known for her role as Rita in Mulholland Drive.-Early life:...

     as Gina Palumbo
  • Paul Johansson
    Paul Johansson
    Paul Joseph Otto Johansson is an American-born Canadian actor, writer and director, best known for playing Dan Scott on the WB/CW television series, One Tree Hill, and for his role as Nick Wolfe on the short lived Highlander: The Series spin-off Highlander: The Raven...

     as Tuck Lampley
  • Dina Waters as Debby Utley
  • Keram Malicki-Sánchez
    Keram Malicki-Sanchez
    Keram Malicki-Sánchez is a Canadian actor, singer, writer, new media guru, and music and film producer.-Early life & acting career:...

     as Freddy B.
  • Stephanie Moore
    Stephanie Moore
    Stephanie Moore is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles on P2 as Lorraine and in the films Cube Zero, Angel Eyes, and John Q.-Filmography:*Labour Laws *King of Sorrow as Julia Baker...

     as Admitting Nurse

Political references

During shots of the news coverage surrounding the hostage situation in the hospital, a cameo by Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

 occurs. Sen. Clinton argues for healthcare reform, especially in regards to cases like this one.

Box office

The film opened in first place at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....

, taking $23,275,194 during its first weekend. It ended up with a total domestic gross of $71,026,631.

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews, with a 22% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus being "Washington's performance rises above the material, but John Q pounds the audience over the head with its message." However, reception from the Rotten Tomatoes community was fairly positive. It also has a score of 30/100 ("generally unfavorable reviews") from Metacritic.
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