John Q (2002)

John Q (2002)

7/10

Starring

Denzel Washington

Robert Duvall

James Woods

Anne Heche

Directed by Nick Cassavetes

They don’t make drama movies like this anymore. The movie is a total reality of how shitty the HMO insurance really is and if you do not have money, you better not get any serious illness. It is a sad and happy movie and Denzel Washington was on top of his game in this movie along side him were a cast that were all bringing their A-game to the table.

I have no understanding why this movie had bad critical ratings, because for me the movie comes out tops when it comes to the plot, the actors and everything in-between.

A good financial success in the box office in comparison to the production cost, what many did not like about it was the way the movie kept pounding it’s message. Which to me was not a problem, it just added to the sad reality of what life truly is and how messed up and expensive healthcare has become.

The movie plot is about a man struggling to make it by, he is married and has a son and everyday is a struggle. His name is John (Denzel Washington) and life is handing him one blow after another.

At a baseball game, when his son was running, the son fell and collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital and his parents discover that he has an abnormal heart and the only way he can continue to live, is by having a transplant. They agree to the transplant, but then comes the next punch from life, their insurance does not cover it. This was a big blow to John who is already struggling to get by living from paycheck to paycheck. The hospital decided to look at it as an outpatient case, but a transplant cost about $250,000. That amount is money John and his wife cannot even dream of. When told they had to raise seventy-five of that sum to get him on the transplant waiting list the battle starts.

John and his wife reached for handouts and got numerous aids, but still the money needed to get their son name on the list could not be reached. When the hospital got tired of waiting and wanted to discharge his son, John did something drastic. He took the whole ER hostage.

That’s where the movie begins and we get to know more about the healthcare situation in most countries. How things unfolded and how John had to deal with being a kidnapper with the police waiting to take him down is what this movie is about. I advise you take the time to see it, if you never have.