Review of The Hours (2002) by Heidi G — 03 Jan 2010

Nicole Kidman writes the story. Julianne Moore reads the story. Meryl Streep is the story. Three women in three differnt time periods, tied together by a novel and by the fact that they are all widely more unhappy than they appear to be. A premise like that would give place to an entertaining, moving movie. Well, unfortunately, it doesn't.

With extraordinary performances by the cast that may be the only thing that strongly supports the movie, the film may often be extremely confusing, slow, and flat. Some things are left untied until the very end, and some things are not tied at all. They cry, we don't know why. They run away, we don't know why. They cry again, still for no aparent reason. It seems like they have put together three climaxes of three different movies together, completely omiting the background of the characters.

The movie deals with way too much themes (all be summarized in "unhappiness"). The majority of the feelings, thoughts, and actions have to be figured out and interpreted by the audience, and you can easily get lost in the plotine.

The things I do have to point out that were quite outstanding were the acting by all the female leads, and the original concept of skipping through time in three versions of practically the same story.

A movie that is definitely not for everyone; it makes you think, it makes you analyze it a little more once you have finished watching it (for pshycologists, it should be a delight), but a movie that does not quite entertain.