August 27, 2003
John Q: Doctors are evil and universal healthcare will help everyone live forever
Wasn't that the message of this movie — the one that was whacked repeatedly
into my cranium for 116 minutes?
John Q is a noble effort, but none-too-subtle about it's motives. The movie tries to hook us on an emotional level, but goes way into fanatic territory with its commitment to universal healthcare. It's as if we're supposed to be the booing crowd outside of the fictitious hospital — cheering on the terrorist and booing the police and medical personnel. Give me a pamphlet instead of this predictable film next time.
Dave found it hilarious to tease me once again about my inability to distinguish Robert Patrick from Ray Liotta. I don't know which one was in this movie, but he really didn't make that much of an impression, so the point is moot.
I had a premonition as James Woods rattled off some doctorspeak about pulmonary edemas and myocardial infarctions
to a pair of worried parents, that we were being set up for the old "Talk to me in English, doc!" scenario. And I was right. It's old already. If you're writing a screenplay, do me a favor and leave that scene out. It shows us nothing about the characters or situation except that doctors have jargon just like every other profession in the universe. Big deal.
And let's all guess where this conversation is headed:
NURSE: You see this blood pressure number here? If it goes below 70, that's bad.
PARENT: 70? Did you say 70?
NURSE: Yes, 70.
PARENT: What does going below 70 mean?
NURSE: If he goes below 70, it means he's in heart failure.
(dramatic pause)
And if the bus goes below 55 mph, it will blow up!
And if the asteroid goes past zero-barrier, the Earth is doomed!
And the countdown gets to zero, Nakatomi Plaza is toast!
Cheap, cheap, cheap movie trick. Give us something to count, a number to fixate on and we'll be appeased, right? Well sometimes that works and sometimes it sticks out like a femur with a compound fracture. Dave wasn't bothered by the
blood pressure "countdown", but every time I saw that systolic pressure tick down a notch it screamed at me "Don't go below 55!" It was inappropriately action-movieish in the tenderhearted part of this film.
The end of the movie is no less cliched and disappointing. The preaching-level escalated with a montage of demonstrators and news clips that touted the panacea of universal health care. We learn that John Q has been brandishing an unloaded gun during the entire kidnapping, which is the Hollywood way of saying that he's tough, but good at heart. And it used to be that a proper hero would be cleared of all charges and even given back command of the Enterprise after his misadventure. *ahem* James Kearns (the writer) walks a sort of middle ground of John being cleared of every charge except kidnapping. He pays for some crimes, but not others. I would have liked to see him convicted on all charges. He's saved his son only to be separated from him for decades. There's bittersweet for ya.
But... the award for most lifelike and believeable performance you could blink and miss goes to the plain-speaking male nurse who was a lone example of kind, competent hospital staff. I don't know who the actor was because I'm not sure what the
character was called, but he glowed with quiet confidence and managed to portray sympathy without saccharine. He made me put down my magazine and take notice — I was disappointed when the film jumped back to the chaos in the ER.
Comments
Course, movies can't be dramatic! what were they thinking? Of tickets they might sell? bad naughty them. Course I don't think they were trying to do a documentary, they really were trying to do a drama. Drama's are...dramatic. *nods* Yep that's all.
Oh, but doctors really can be evil. Not all, but plenty enough to worry about.