Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: This movie will find a home with those people who want a moving cinematic experience. This movie makes you think of so many things: can suicide be a rational decision? It is obvious that Virginia Wolf was a tormented woman, but in the context of this movie her suicide seems like a rational choice, almost in the Japanese tradition of honor through suicide: Bringing your end in your own terms. But the movie does not glorify suicide, rather it provides a context. It reaffirms life. Depression, like many other diseases, can be a terminal condition. And in this movie, the two characters that commit suicide do it out of love, so that their loved-ones can go on with the rest of their lives. Very interesting movie
Rating: 
Summary: Only because there is no 0-star ranking
Review: This movie is absolutely dreadful. I am sure that there are a lot of people out there who love this movie (I know some of them), but if you are looking for a plot or decent acting, skip it and buy something else. With such a great cast, this movie should provide more...Streep looks incredibly bored throughout the movie and I just can't get past that horrible nose on Kidman. Just awful.
Rating:
Summary: A literate and heartfelt film
Review: "The Hours," directed by Stephen Daldry, is an ambitious film that tells the interwoven stories of three different women in three different decades: writer Virginia Woolf (played by Nicole Kidman) in 1923, housewife Laura (Julianne Moore) in 1951, and Clarissa (Meryl Streep), who is caring for a dying friend, in 2001.First and foremost, this film is a triple triumph for three of the greatest actresses of our time. Kidman, Moore, and Streep give complex, emotionally rich performances. They are backed by an astonishing supporting cast that includes Toni Collette, John C. Reilly, and Ed Harris. Jack Rovello is particularly amazing as Laura's young son. The DVD version of the film is full of terrific bonus features, including documentary featurettes and two full-length commentaries (one by Kidman, Moore, and Streep; one by director Daldry and novelist Michael Cunningham). These great extras made me savor this beautiful film even more. "The Hours" is about many things: the magical, transcendent connection between writer and reader; struggling with illness, whether mental or physical; making choices in one's life; etc. The chronologically separate stories are skillfully and seamlessly woven together. The film presents a complex tapestry of human relationships and emotions. It offers no easy answers, but rather challenges the viewer. Yet in the end it is an emotionally full and satisfying journey.
Rating:
Summary: A "thinking" film, not an "entertainment" film
Review: If you've ever had problem with depression, anxiety or fitting in, you'll probably be able to appreciate this film. It's focus is on finding happiness in everyday life even though your life may be miserable and unescapable. I get tired of people saying that they found characters in movies "unlikeable". Do you have to like all characters in all movies??? It's art, not entertainment. It doesn't have your standard action sequences, male to female love interests, cute fuzzy animals, etc., etc. It's a depressive look at 3 lives that are worth looking at because these sorts of people have been and are now in our society. If you're looking for something that's going to fill 2 hours of your day and leave you feeling good about the world, then pass on this film. If you're looking for something that's going to present an honest look at human emotions and the complexity of sexuality, then you may enjoy this film. To the person who said they couldn't understand why Meryl Streep's character was gay when she used to be heterosexual: Have you never heard of bi-sexuality?
Rating:
Summary: Two boring Hours
Review: This movie is pointless and a poor transition from page to screen. The book was lovely and moving. The movie dull and lifeless, and the musical score has to be one of the worst in modern history. I will give the actors all A's for effort, but their talent is wasted here.
Rating:
Summary: A Trio of Oscar Efforts
Review: "The Hours" is one the greatest examples in film history of three actresses in the same film achieving Oscar level pinnacles. While only one, Nicole Kidman, would secure a statuette for "Best Actress," Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep performed at an equivalent level of brilliance. Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham, the story revolves around the creative act of novelist Virginia Woolf, played by Kidman, writing her most memorable work, "Mrs. Dalloway," along with the impact that work had on other people at later points in time. The book is referred to as a point of reference by Julianne Moore in her suburban Los Angeles housewife's life of 1951 and by Meryl Streep in 2000 Greenwich Village New York, where she functions as a book editor and seeks to comfort former lover Ed Harris, a brilliant poet who is dying of aids. While Streep seeks to enhance Harris' desire to live by telling him that, by taking his pills he can live a good while longer, he reflects on what he sees as the hopelessness of his condition. We ultimately learn that the little boy who fears that his mother, played by Moore, will leave him, is actually Haris in his youth. Feeling the same doubts about life that Kidman experiences as Woolf while she writes what will become her most famous work, Moore goes to a hotel room with the idea of swallowing enough pills to commit suicide. Moore decides not to go through with the suicide attempt, but later, after she has the child she is carrying, leaves her husband, her newly born daughter, and young son, who later, as a sensitive poet and novelist, carries the burden of that rejection with him. Top British dramatist David Hare adapted Cunningham's novel superbly, giving a brilliantly cerebral written work a visual feel, while Steven Daldry directed with a skilled but never interfering hand, letting the brilliant performers establish their own respective voices. What makes this film so unique is the way that a creative artist's impact is shown through the lives of people at another point in time living in another country, who are sensitively attuned to the pain the author felt as she grappled with the question of life and whether or not to continue living it.
Rating:
Summary: Movie is Great..the Book is Better
Review: Loved the movie and the wonderful actresses. The book is even better
Rating:
Summary: Artistic Waste of Time
Review: The Hours left me with a sense of emptiness. Although the performances of Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Ed Harris were at times brilliant, I found the story to be an artistic tribute to sadness, dispair and confusion. The intertwining stories left me often confused and discouraged by the inability of the characters to do anything positive to change their lives. Instead they focus on death as a solution and give the impression that everything in life is hopeless. This is another case of Hollywood trying to show how intellectual it can be and missing the point.
Rating:
Summary: Could barely make it through it....
Review: I'm sorry - but this movie was horrible! I would classify myself as an average american, and this just did NOT appeal to me at all. I will give a huge kudo to Nichole Kidman for her performance, but other than that - it was awful. I get so tired of people continously putting the "beautifully creative" label on any movie that portrays homosexuality in a positive role. Pass on this one....please.
Rating:
Summary: Prententious Fraud
Review: Never have I seen such a pretentious movie so filled with self-importance. The truth of the matter is that this movie is just a smoke screen and a ruse. Apparently if main characters are miserable enough and the subject matter is "serious" enough then it must be Oscar worthy. Never mind the fact that the movie is incredible boring, the characters are flat, and the plot is barely plodding. The dialogue is what really got to me. The characters neither speak conversationally nor to move the plot. They mostly just speak in metaphors that must convey some "deep" meaning. Bah! Some would say this is not an appropriate movie for all ages but I disagree. Toddlers especially would enjoy the repetitive lullaby like music. This is a wonderful film to fall asleep to!
I have a novel theory on why this movie won so much praise. Great artist suffer for their work so if the characters in the movie are depressed enough and miserable enough then the movie must be great art. An interesting approach to a movie but unfortunately for the audience it fails. Do not be fooled this is not an intelligent movie only a self-important one. Don't see this movie because all you will do is waste "the hours" you spend watching it.
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