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Movies / On DVD / The Hours
The Hours

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The Hours (2002)

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Reviews Counted:185

Fresh:149

Rotten:36

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: The movie may be a downer, but it packs an emotional wallop. Some fine acting on display here.

Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham, THE HOURS employs Virginia Woolf's classic novel and central character, MRS. DALLOWAY, as its foundation and inspiration. Spanning... Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham, THE HOURS employs Virginia Woolf's classic novel and central character, MRS. DALLOWAY, as its foundation and inspiration. Spanning three different eras, during one day, the film focuses on the parallel lives of three women joined in their depression, alienation, and search for love. Nicole Kidman, wearing a prosthetic nose, is virtually unrecognizable as the tortured writer Virginia Woolf whose ongoing battle with mental illness eventually led to her tragic suicide in 1941. The film begins with the moment of her suicide and flashes back on her life and work as she crafted her most memorable character, Clarissa Dalloway, in 1923. In 1950's California suburbia another woman, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), struggles with alienation and depression. Trapped by her clinging young son and an adoring husband whom she does not love, the desperate woman tries to prepare for her husband's birthday but cannot stop reading MRS. DALLOWAY. Finally, in modern day Manhattan, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep), a lesbian who lives with her lover (Allison Janney) and her daughter (Claire Danes), struggles to prepare a party for her ex-husband (Ed Harris) who is dying of AIDS. Director Stephen Daltry uses beautiful overlapping editing to sew the women's interwoven stories seamlessly together. At the core of this profoundly moving film is the trio of award-winning actresses who grace the screen with their bold and awe-inspiring performances. [More]

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Toni Collette

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, John C. Reilly, Eileen Atkins, Stephen Dillane

Director: Stephen Daldry

Director: Stephen Daldry
Screenwriter: David Hare
Producer: Robert Fox, Scott Rudin
Composer: Philip Glass
Studio: Paramount Pictures

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Reviews for The Hours

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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A boldly realised, affecting work.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An elegant movie-triptych - its constituent, handsomely mounted panels are inhabited by three earnest, meticulous performances.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
03/25/03
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/12/03
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It captures the feeling of a long, forgiving gaze.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
02/23/03
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

Brilliantly acted and impressively directed, this has Oscar-bait written all over it, even if it doesn’t quite add up to the sum of its parts.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
02/15/03
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Lyrical and surprisingly uplifting -- if you're willing to invest full attention.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
01/29/03
Stella Papamichael
Stella Papamichael
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This film is remarkable in so many ways that it almost overwhelms you as a moviegoer. From the tricky weave of narrative strands to the knock-out performances, this is a beautifully realised film featuring themes that get way beneath the skin.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
01/16/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Daldry's screen version is well acted if too pedestrian and literal, and it doesn't capture the complexity or the lyrical qualities of Michael Cunningham's seminal novel.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
03/26/09
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

More than just Oscar bait; it's a veritable Oscar bait and tackle shop.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
02/01/09
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

David Hare's screen adaptation reduces Woolf and her art to a set of feminist stances and a few plot points, without reference to style or form.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 1 Comment
02/11/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

The Hours totally engrosses me... It somehow deepens the [book's] themes to see the bodies, scrutinize the faces, smell the money, feel the flatness of the screen.

Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | comment Comment
09/16/06
Nick Davis
Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

The film's true star is its script.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Darrin Keene
Darrin Keene
Film Threat

Life may or may not be everything it's cracked up to be. This movie most definitely is.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Rick Kisonak
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat

If this movie is about how some choose not to live, it's also just as much about why others choose to go on.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
12/01/05
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Does make you think, but it doesn't entertain.

Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | comment Comment
09/30/05
Scott Nash
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

'In a sublime collaboration, David Hare and Stephen Daldry have created a delicate atmosphere of inchoate sadness.'

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Mercury | comment Comment
03/22/05
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
Las Vegas Mercury
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Nation | comment Comment
03/03/05
Stuart Klawans
Stuart Klawans
Nation

It works like the best poetry, giving us room to explore ideas and issues instead of narrowing itself to simple moral lessons.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
12/06/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for The Hours

May 05, 2008: Kidman tipped to play Dusty Opens in new window
Nicole Kidman has been tapped to play the bee-hived chanteuse, Dusty Springfield, in a biopic to be written by Michael Cunningham, who she worked with for The Hours. More...

June 21, 2006: Natalie Portman Aboard "Boleyn" and "Kavalier"
The universally-adored and very cute Natalie Portman seems to have a pretty high profile pair of freshly-inked contracts. On one hand, she'll be starring in a historical drama... More...

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