John Q/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acceptable Targets: HMOs, large hospitals, and essentially any other piece of corporate health care. The entire movie is essentially framed as an attack on the health establishment.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: "This hospital is under new management! FREE HEALTH-CARE FOR EVERYBODY!! "
    • Watching the jury only convict John of the lesser kidnapping charge
  • Crowning Moment of Funny: When the abusive boyfriend gets what was coming to him...
  • Straw Man Has a Point: At one point, the hospital administrator points out to the police that they cannot, under any circumstances, give John what he wants, or else there would be "guns in every hospital". Despite the fact that John does get exactly what he wants, because he took hostages, this is never brought up again.
  • Tear Jerker: Denzel's powerful performance lends itself to a couple of these, particularly when he finds out about his son's condition