Lead actor saves 'John Q'

by Jason Zingale
Staff Writer

As an argument for national health care, "John Q" is embarrassingly one-sided.

It's a powerful, though flawed, movie guaranteed to put a tear in your eye while reaffirming Denzel Washington’s position as possibly the best actor in movies today.

The film opens to sacred music and a horrible car crash between a semi and a speeding driver. What is the importance you ask? Don’t, because if you haven’t figured it out by the end of the movie, they will tell you.

The movie then turns to Washington, who plays blue-collar worker John Q. Archibald, a hard-working man, respectful husband and devoted father. But his hours at the plant are cut back and bills are becoming increasingly more difficult to pay.

While cheering at a Little League game one afternoon, John watches helplessly as his son Mike (Daniel E. Smith) collapses while rounding the bases. At the hospital, Mike is revived, but the news, delivered by Dr. Turner (James Woods) and hospital administrator Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche) is bad.

Mike has an enlarged heart, and unless he gets a transplant, he will die in a matter of months, or even weeks. A transplant costs $250,000 and the hospital administration, lead by Payne, is certain John's health insurance won't cover the cost.

In the exchanges, Payne is made to be so unbelievably heartless as to help stack the deck against the statement the film aims to make. Hospitals are bad? No, but the film manages to mention a few hundred times that the lack of medical coverage for financially restricted families such as John Q’s is complete blasphemy.

John hassles about every insurance company, sells most of his possessions and receives gracious donations from his church to no avail. Left with no other plan to raise the money for a down payment on the new heart, John enters the hospital with a gun and takes the ER hostage.

The police are quick to arrive with veteran hostage negotiator Grimes (Robert Duvall) at the helm, but there is no budging John, and it turns into media frenzy, much like what happened in the Al Pacino film “Dog Day Afternoon.”

“John Q” is a great film to take at face value. It is truly scary how good an actor Washington is. And I don’t mean scary like his great portrayal in “Training Day,” but scary in that he is just that good, turning the film into a winner.

Aside from Washington’s performance, the film is fluff, used only as a vehicle to pout about unfair HMO coverage and make audiences cry, because they really are cheated by the end of the film.

That is why all my stars go to Washington’s acting in the film and not to the film at all.