John Q

A devoted father (Denzel Washington) commandeers a hospital at gunpoint in an attempt to get his dying son on the heart-transplant list. The film profits from its actors (James Woods, Robert Duvall, Ray Liotta, Anne Heche, Kimberly Elise, Eddie Griffin) more than they do from James Kearns’ script, a shameless mix of mawkish preaching (as befits a former writer for TV’s Highway to Heaven) and agitprop lobbying for national health care. Director Nick Cassavettes wrings every maudlin drop out of the action, drawing tears with the ruthless ferocity of a vacuum cleaner sucking dirt out of a carpet. The devout worship of Washington’s character gets to be a bit much in the closing minutes, with the slow-motion camera caressing his noble face and Aaron Zigman’s music soaring into transports of ecstasy.