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MOVIES / ON DVD / THE HOURS
The Hours

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The Hours (2002)

80%
90%
84%
N/A
N/A
N/A
80 %
Reviews Counted: 182 Fresh: 146  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.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins

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 three different eras, during one day, the film focuses on the parallel lives of three women... 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]

Genre: Dramas

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

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

DVD Info

Release:

Dec 6, 2004

[DVD Details]

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
N/A

A boldly realised, affecting work.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

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

Full Review | comment Comment
03/25/03
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/12/03
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/4

It captures the feeling of a long, forgiving gaze.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/23/03
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic
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3/5

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 | comment Comment
02/15/03
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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4/5

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

Full Review | comment Comment
01/29/03
Stella Papamichael
BBC
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Ratings Image
5/5

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 | comment Comment
01/16/03
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
N/A

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 | comment Comment
02/11/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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4/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image
B+

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 | comment Comment
09/16/06
Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
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4/5

The film's true star is its script.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Darrin Keene
Film Threat
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4/5

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

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat
Ratings Image
A

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 | comment Comment
12/01/05
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
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3/4

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

Full Review | comment Comment
09/30/05
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs
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4.5/5

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

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

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/03/05
Stuart Klawans
Nation
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A-

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

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer
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C+

Lost we become in story telling that emphasizes cuts and coincidences, leaving serious characterization gaps.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/14/04
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan
Ratings Image
0/10

A feminist diatribe and it's true to its core as it shows men as marginalized.

Full Review | comment 1 Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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