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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: A satisfying piece of Americana in the age of the gun. Read more
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: As an argument for national health care, John Q. is embarrassingly one-sided; as a movie, it's just one-dimensional. Read more
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Benefits from the presence of Denzel Washington, but not much else. Read more
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ...a ridiculous script that gets just about everything wrong... Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: [Cassavetes and Kearns] stacked the deck so much that the movie becomes absurd. Read more
Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The movie sets up a skirmish between the earnest and the ridiculous, and we're lucky that the collision provides some yuks. Read more
Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: Content merely to lionize its title character and exploit his anger - all for easy sanctimony, formulaic thrills and a ham-fisted sermon on the need for national health insurance. Read more
Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: So ham-fisted that it sabotages its own worthwhile arguments. Read more
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Before long, the film starts playing like General Hospital crossed with a Saturday Night Live spoof of Dog Day Afternoon. Read more
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: At every turn it has the courage of its material. Read more
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: It's a powerful though flawed movie, guaranteed to put a lump in your throat while reaffirming Washington as possibly the best actor working in movies today. Read more
Paul Tatara, CNN.com: Director Nick Cassavetes and screenwriter James Kearns make Washington look silly for the first time in his career. Read more
Steven Rosen, Denver Post: It features miserable direction by Nick Cassavetes, writing by James Kearns, and acting by too many to be named. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Cassavetes thinks he's making Dog Day Afternoon with a cause, but all he's done is to reduce everything he touches to a shrill, didactic cartoon. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Like a tone-deaf singer at a benefit concert, John Q. is a bad movie appearing on behalf of a good cause. Read more
John Patterson, L.A. Weekly: A coercive script by James Kearns, and some middling direction by Nick Cassavetes, can't rob the movie of an undeniable, headlong crowd-pleasing power as it tackles an issue that touches us all. Read more
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: It pulls out more stops than that old silent serial The Perils of Pauline. Unfortunately, it's a talkie. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A poorly scripted, preachy fable that forgets about unfolding a coherent, believable story in its zeal to spread propaganda. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It is so earnest, so overwrought and so wildly implausible that it begs to be parodied. Read more
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Timidly dips its toe into important issues only to abandon them for cheap entertainment prancing around in faux sackcloth. Read more
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie's manipulations become so transparent that it can't really touch our emotions, especially since it fails to follow through honestly on its premise. Read more
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A polemic in search of a plot. Read more
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Stacks its emotional deck in favour of the reluctant hero so high it threatens to collapse. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: One can excuse the movie's missteps and melodramatic moments in the greater interest of the strong statement it makes about our health care system. Read more
Ed Park, Village Voice: Represents a creative dead end for the organ-transplant movie. Read more
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: It reduces the complexities to bromides and slogans and it gets so preachy-keen and so tub-thumpingly loud it makes you feel like a chump just for sitting through it. Read more
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It is a film that taps a deep well of resentment, and despite all its flaws, it is highly effective entertainment. Read more