The Hours (2002)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
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.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature thematic elements, some disturbing images and brief language
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jan 10, 2003 Wide
Box Office: $41,465,765
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
Get This Movie
Reviews for The Hours
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
|
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 |
|||
|
More than just Oscar bait; it's a veritable Oscar bait and tackle shop. Full Review |
|||
|
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 |
|||
|
Click to read the article Full Review |
|||
|
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 |
|||
|
A boldly realised, affecting work. Full Review |
|||
|
N/R
|
Click to read the article Full Review |
||
|
The film's true star is its script. Full Review |
|||
|
Life may or may not be everything it's cracked up to be. This movie most definitely is. Full Review |
|||
|
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 |
|||
|
Does make you think, but it doesn't entertain. Full Review |
|||
|
'In a sublime collaboration, David Hare and Stephen Daldry have created a delicate atmosphere of inchoate sadness.' Full Review |
|||
|
N/R
|
Click to read the article Full Review |
||
|
It works like the best poetry, giving us room to explore ideas and issues instead of narrowing itself to simple moral lessons. Full Review |
|||
|
Lost we become in story telling that emphasizes cuts and coincidences, leaving serious characterization gaps. Full Review |
|||
|
A feminist diatribe and it's true to its core as it shows men as marginalized. Full Review |
|||
|
A puzzling and forbidding strangeness. Full Review |
|||
|
There's not a breath of humor — not one little joke — in the entire two hour length -- a sign of the kind of importance that can be pretty hard to take. Full Review |
|||
|
A moving adaptation of Michael Cunningham's elegant novel about one day in the lives of three women in different time periods. Full Review |
|||
|
N/R
|
Click to read the article Full Review |
Latest News for The Hours
May 05, 2008:
Kidman tipped to play Dusty ![]()
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...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Fresh Links
Featured

MSN Movies offers a little background on the success of Disney Animation.

TIME takes a look back at the history of vampires on film.

Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.

AOL put together a list of 10 recent news items that would be perfect as TV Movies.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill explores how remakes and reboots have warped our thinking.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!








